Sugar Wikipedia. This article is about the class of sweet flavored substances used as food. For common table sugar, see Sucrose. For other uses, see Sugar disambiguation. Closeup of raw crystals of unrefined, unbleached sugar. Sugar is the generic name for sweet, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose also known as dextrose, fructose, and galactose. The table sugar or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. UNC_GFRP_AddedSugars-1024x732.png' alt='Sugar Ingredients' title='Sugar Ingredients' />List of Food Ingredients at NDTV Food, List of Sugar And Sugar Products, know more about cooking, recipes which Sugar And Sugar Products Ingredients are used in. Bone char, which is used to process sugar, is made from the bones of cattle from Afghanistan, Argentina, India, and Pakistan. The bones are sold to traders. Quick and easy sugar cookies Terrific plain or with candies in them. This recipe uses basic ingredients you probably already have. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Some other chemical substances, such as glycerol may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Diet foodsubstitutes for sugar, include aspartame and sucralose, a chlorinated derivative of sucrose. Table Sugar sucrose C12H22O11 is a carbohydrate that is present naturally in fruits and vegetables. All plants use a natural process called photosynthesis. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants and are present in sugarcane and sugar beet in sufficient concentrations for efficient commercial extraction. The world production of sugar in 2. The average person consumes about 2. Since the latter part of the twentieth century, it has been questioned whether a diet high in sugars, especially refined sugars, is good for human health. Over consumption of sugar has been implicated in the occurrence of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and tooth decay. Numerous studies have been undertaken to try to clarify the position, but with varying results, mainly because of the difficulty of finding populations for use as controls that do not consume or are largely free of any sugar consumption. EtymologyeditThe etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word sugar ultimately originates from the Sanskrit arkar, via Arabic sukkar as granular or candied sugar, which is cognate with the Greek word, kroke, or pebble. The contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azcar and acar, respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre and the contemporary French, sucre. The earliest Greek word attested is skkaris. The English word jaggery, a coarse brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin Portuguese jagara from the Sanskrit arkar. HistoryeditAncient times and Middle AgeseditSugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent3 since ancient times. It was not plentiful or cheap in early times and honey was more often used for sweetening in most parts of the world. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness. Sugarcane was a native of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. Different species seem to have originated from different locations with Saccharum barberi originating in India and S. S. officinarum coming from New Guinea. One of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating back to 8th century BC that state that the use of sugarcane originated in India. Sugar was found in Europe by the 1st century CE, but only as an imported medicine, and not as a food. The Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century CE described sugar in his medical treatise De Materia Medica,9 and Pliny the Elder, a 1st century CE Roman, described sugar in his Natural History 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. Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the 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 the local Indian language, these crystals were called khanda Devanagari, Khaa, which is the source of the word candy. Indian sailors, who carried clarified butter and sugar as supplies, introduced knowledge of sugar on the various trade routes they travelled. Buddhist monks, as they travelled around, brought sugar crystallization methods to China. During the reign of Harsha r. North India, Indian envoys in Tang China taught methods of cultivating sugarcane after Emperor Taizong of Tang r. China then established its first sugarcane plantations in the seventh century. Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 6. CE, to obtain technology for sugar refining. In South Asia, the Middle East and China, sugar became a staple of cooking and desserts. Crusaders brought sugar home with them to Europe after their campaigns in the Holy Land, where they encountered caravans carrying sweet salt. Early in the 1. 2th century, Venice acquired some villages near Tyre and set up estates to produce sugar for export to Europe, where it supplemented honey, which had previously been the only available sweetener. Chicken Manicotti there. Crusade chronicler William of Tyre, writing in the late 1. In the 1. 5th century, Venice was the chief sugar refining and distribution centre in Europe. Modern historyeditIn August 1. Christopher Columbus stopped at La Gomera in the Canary Islands, for wine and water, intending to stay only four days. He became romantically involved with the governor of the island, Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio, and stayed a month. When he finally sailed, she gave him cuttings of sugarcane, which became the first to reach the New World. The first sugar cane harvest was conducted in Hispaniola in 1. Cuba and Jamaica by the 1. The Portuguese took sugar cane to Brazil. By 1. 54. 0, there were 8. Santa Catarina Island and another 2,0. Brazil, Demarara, and Surinam. Sugar was a luxury in Europe until the 1. It then became popular and by the 1. This evolution of taste and demand for sugar as an essential food ingredient unleashed major economic and social changes. It drove, in part, colonization of tropical islands and nations where labor intensive sugarcane plantations and sugar manufacturing could thrive. The demand for cheap labor to perform the hard work involved in its cultivation and processing increased the demand for the slave trade from Africa in particular West Africa. After slavery was abolished, there was high demand for indentured laborers from South Asia in particular India. Millions of slave and indentured laborers were brought into the Caribbean and the Americas, Indian Ocean colonies, southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, and East Africa and Natal. The modern ethnic mix of many nations that have been settled in the last two centuries has been influenced by the demand for sugar. This is a close up image of sugar cane. Sugar cane was a primary motivator for the colonial system. Sugar also led to some industrialization of areas where sugar cane was grown. For example, Lieutenant J. Paterson, of the Bengal establishment, persuaded the British Government that sugar cane could be cultivated in British India with many advantages and at less expense than in the West Indies as a result, sugar factories were established in Bihar in eastern India. During the Napoleonic Wars, sugar beet production increased in continental Europe because of the difficulty of importing sugar when shipping was subject to blockade. By 1. 88. 0, the sugar beet was the main source of sugar in Europe. It was cultivated in Lincolnshire and other parts of England, although the United Kingdom continued to import the main part of its sugar from its colonies. Until the late nineteenth century, sugar was purchased in loaves, which had to be cut using implements called sugar nips.