History of Sugar and Sweeteners

Commercial sugar (sucrose; β-D-fructofuranosyl-2↔1-α-D-glucopyranoside) is manufactured worldwide from either sugarcane or sugar beets. There are seven main phases in the history of sugar and sweeteners, which are discussed herein: (1) 8000 BCE to 0 CE: The extraction of juice from the sugarcane plant; domestication of sugarcane in tropical Southeast Asia. (2) Early centuries CE: Invention of making sugar crystals from sugarcane juice in India; improvements in refining sugar. (3) 700 to 1500 CE: Spread of sugarcane cultivation and manufacture of cane sugar to the medieval Islamic world; first introduction of plantation farming with sugarcane. (4) 16th to 18th centuries: Sugar cultivation and manufacture in the New World. (5) 19th century: Production of sugar from sugar beets precipitated by the Napoleonic wars; introduction of mechanization and modern processing technology. (6) 20th century: High fructose corn syrup and other artificial sweeteners. (7) 21st century: New natural sweeteners and other uses for sugar.