Early History
Explore the early history of sugar through this online display
Humans have always had a “sweet tooth”.
‘Sweetness’ to our predecessors was in the form of honey or fruit!
Honey is a natural source of sugar and therefore enjoyed by all for centuries. In the Arãna caves in Spain, 12,000 year-old cave paintings show women collecting honey from wild bees' nests.
Cane sugar on the other hand, requires extraction!
Technological advancements were necessary to extract cane sugar. As this technology was a more modern creation, cane sugar was only universally consumed from the sixteenth century onwards.
Although the average person did not consume sugar until the sixteenth century and later, it did exist.
Cave Painting found in 12,000 year old cave in Spain
Where does sugar come from?
Sugarcane originates from the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. People initially chewed sugarcane raw to extract the sweetness- there was no other way of extracting the cane sugar until the Indians discovered how to crystallise sugar.
The word ‘sugar’ derives from Sanskrit शर्करा (śarkarā), meaning ‘ground or candied sugar,’ originally ‘grit, gravel’.
The first written record of the existence of sugar is thought to be in Sanskrit from The Mahabahashya of Patanjali, (a commentary on selected rules of Sanskrit grammar from Pānini’s treatise) written in 350AD. It provides the recipes for rice pudding, barley meal with sugar and fermented drinks made with ginger and sugar.
Sugar was also favoured by the Greeks and Romans who used sugar as a medicine.
The Greek physician, Dioscorides, wrote in the 1AD:
'There is a kind of coalesced honey called sakcharon [i.e. sugar] found in reeds in India and Eudaimon Arabia [i.e. Yemen similar in consistency to salt and brittle enough to be broken between the teeth like salt. It is good dissolved in water for the intestines and stomach, and [can be] taken as a drink to help [relieve] a painful bladder and kidneys.'
- Dioscorides
Pliny the Elder, a Roman in 1AD, also described sugar as medicinal:
'Sugar is made in Arabia as well, but Indian sugar is better. It is a kind of honey found in cane, white as gum, and it crunches between the teeth. It comes in lumps the size of a hazelnut. Sugar is used only for medical purposes.'
- Pliny the Elder
Sugar was exported to Europe from the Middle East, but remained an expensive import until the discovery of the New World and growing sugar industry. The price per pound in fourteenth and fifteenth century England was equally as high as that for the imported spices from Asia such as mace (allspice), ginger, cloves, and pepper.
Crusaders brought sugar home to Europe after their campaigns in the Holy Land, where they encountered caravans carrying "sweet salt".
Crusade chronicler William of Tyre, writing in the late twelfth century, described sugar as:
‘A most precious product, very necessary for the use and health of mankind’.
- William of Tyre
This is the first mention of sugar recorded in English in the late twelfth century.
Throughout the history of human civilisation, sugar has always been a dominating presence in our diet; whether it be in the form of strawberries, honey or added to tea.
