Food, Beverage, Nutraceutical Ingredient Resources

A Brief History of Sugar

The early days of sugar

Cane sugar was brought to the western world in about the 13th century by Venetian trade merchants, and by the year 1300 Venice was the sugar capital of the world.

The Portuguese in the early 15th century had colonized Madeira and successfully introduced. Later they introduced cultivation to their colonies in the Canary Islands, and by 1550 sugar had become one of the most valuable products of the islands of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The Portuguese had also earlier brought sugar to the west coast of Africa and Brazil and by 1583 there were more than 100 Brazilian sugar factories.

Today sugar cane is grown and refined in many regions of the world.

Beet sugar vs. Cane sugar

Sugar cane isn't the only source of sugar though. There's sugar beet, too, which produces a product identical in taste to sugar cane, but that's more suitable for different growing conditions than sugar cane.

Sugar beets (about 25% of the world's sugar) are most suitable for temperate areas; sugar cane is mainly a crop in tropical and sub-tropical climates.

Sugar beets were cultivated in the ancient world for food and fodder, but it wasn't until the mid 1700's that a German chemist, Andreas Marggraf, found that sugar from the white beet was the same as sugar from cane.

When a practical method of extracting the sugar from the beets was developed by Marggraf's pupil, Franz Achard, beet sugar factories spread throughout France, and from there through Prussia, Austria, and Russia.

Sugar today

Sugar beets today are grown in almost every European country and Russia, and in 25 states, with producers in the United States accounting for about 40% of the world's output.

Beet sugar matches cane in sweetness and usage in almost every instance.

Sugar is one of the cheapest and safest sources of food energy and is easily obtained. A candy bar can give a pleasurable boost to your day, pacify a grumpy child, help say "I love you" to your sweetheart.

Cane and beet sugar is available from us in a variety of different sizes including 25lb, 50lb, and 100lb bags, as well as in bulk form, ready to use by manufacturers and producers of all kinds of products from bakeries to ice cream or candy and manufacturers and the nutraceutical industry (to name just a few).

Whether your needs are for beet or cane, brown sugar or white sugar, we can provide you exactly what your company needs--for less.

Contact us for details.