Sugar has become an essential part of our lives — from cakes to your daily cup of tea, it has become an inseparable component of our diets. Ever wondered how and when this ingredient was produced? This article tries to analyse the same, in a concise manner.
The interesting etymology of sugar reflects upon how this commodity traversed the globe The English word “sugar” originates from the Arabic word سكر (sukkar), which came from the Persian شکر (shekar), from Tamil சக்கரை (Sakkarai) derived from Sanskrit शर्करा (śarkarā).
A similar etymological pattern is observed for jaggery. The English word jaggery came from Portuguese xagara (or jagara), derived from Malayalam chakkarā from the Sanskrit word śarkarā.
In the tradition of Indian medicine (āyurveda), the sugarcane is known by the name Ikṣu and the sugarcane juice is known as Phāṇita. Its varieties, synonyms and characteristics are defined in nighaṇṭus such as the Bhāvaprakāśa (group of sugarcanes).
Sugar remained relatively unimportant until Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store and to transport. Crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas, around the 5th century CE. In Hindi, these crystals were called khanda (Devanagari: खण्ड, Khaṇḍa), which is interestingly the etymological source of the word “candy”- which is still used in the Shivaliks & Lower Himalayas to refer to crystalline sugar. Evidence from plant remnants and DNA suggests that sugarcane evolved in South East Asia. The extraction of sugar cane juice from the sugarcane plant; and, the subsequent domestication of the plant in tropical Southeast Asia many thousands of years ago (a firm date is unknown). The invention of manufacture of cane sugar granules from the sugarcane juice in India a little over two thousand years ago, followed by improvements in refining the crystal granules in India in the early centuries A.D.
In 510 BC, Darius, the Persian Emperor, arrived to conquer the Indian sub-continent and found that the people used a substance from a plant to sweeten their food.Until then the Persian people had used honey to sweeten food, and so they called sugar cane ‘the reed which gives honey without bees’. Here is a depiction of Persian traders arriving in Persia carrying goods from India:
In the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great conquered parts of Western Asia and took with him what he called the ‘sacred reed’. His admiral Nearchos sailed from the Persian Gulf along the Indus River, where the sugar canes grew side by side, swaying in the wind. Nearchos tasted the cane, and exclaimed, “Indian canes that make sugar without bees.” Greek physician Dioscorides in the 1st century (AD) wrote: "There is a kind of coalesced honey called sakcharon - etymologically (and phonetically) derived from Sanskrit term śarkarā [i.e. sugar] which was found in reeds in India - similar in consistency to salt and brittle enough to be broken between the teeth like salt. Here is a clay depiction of Greek bakers using sugar made in India:
Before long Ancient Greece, and then Rome, began to import sugar as a luxury product and a medicine. Pliny the Elder, a 1st century (AD) Roman, 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."
In the seventh century BC, the Arabs invaded Persia and as part of their loot they took the sugar cane plant.Through invasions, conquests and increased trading links with other countries, sugar cane reached a great number of places, including Egypt, Rhodes, Cyprus, North Africa (Morocco and Tunisia), Southern Spain and Syria. Here is a painting of Arab alchemists experimenting with the refining methods for Indian sugar:
Ancient India was a prosperous maritime hub with numerous ships sailing past its shores, which were of economic importance. The Indian sailors, who carried clarified butter (English term for Ghee) and sugar as supplies, introduced knowledge of sugar along the numerous trade routes they travelled — spreading the knowledge of creation of sugar in Europe, China, South East Asia as well as Africa.
During the reign of Harsha (606–647 CE) in North India, Indian envoys in Tang China taught methods of cultivating sugarcane after Emperor Taizong of Tang (626–649 CE) made known his interest in sugar. China then later established its first sugarcane plantations in the 7th Century, after acquiring the necessary technology and preparation techniques from India.
The fame of Indian sugar manufacturing spread far and wide due to trade via Indian merchants in markets abroad. Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 CE, to specifically obtain technology for sugar refining — for building sugar plantations. The Chinese began making sugar sometime in the 7th century AD, and in fact the Chinese ambassador to the court of King Harsha, Li-I-piao, was tasked with the job of smuggling information on how to produce the excellent sugar that India made. Although the Chinese liked the flavour, the Emperor disliked the brown colour, so they used the technique of refining sugar, producing the white crystalline solid we call “cheeni”. They had specifically sent two diplomatic missions from China to learn the technique in India.
“Cheeni” ( A common Hindi term for sugar) actually refers to the white crystallised form of sugar found in China, which resemble the white porcelain of the region. Sugar made from sugarcane was made in India around 800 BC, but it was *generally* the coarse, brown sugar. Khandsar or Khand is a basic raw crystalline sugar, developed in India, that has been separated from most of the molasses. Khandsari, varies in colour from golden yellow to brown and contains between 94 and 98% sucrose.
The extraction from sugarcane and purifying technology were developed in Northern India. After domestication, its cultivation spread rapidly to Southeast Asia and southern China. India, where the process of refining sugarcane juice into granulated crystals was developed, was often visited by imperial convoys from China to learn about cultivation and sugar refining. By the sixth century AD, sugar cultivation and processing had reached Persia; and, from there that knowledge was brought into the Mediterranean by the Arab expansion.
The Arabs brought sugar to the western Mediterranean region. They cultivated sugar canes in southern Spain and Sicily after occupying these areas. In the Middle Ages, Venice was Europe's main importer and exporter of sugar. Raw cane sugar was imported from India and refined in Venice before being exported to the rest of Europe.
Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquest in the fifteenth century carried sugar to the Americas. In 1493, on his second voyage, Christopher Columbus carried sugarcane seedlings to the New World, in particular Hispaniola.