In the past people used to sweeten with honey. First with the honey obtained from wild bees, later from the domestic bees. Also the Greeks and Romans sweetened their meals with honey, even though they knew the cane sap, which they imported (in small quantity) from India. Cane got to India from Polynesia, where it was used first). Romans called it saccharum and used it as a medicine.

The usage of this juice in India is supported by the kind Dáreios I. In 510 BC he invaded the north-western part of India and he mentioned, that he had found there some reeds which “give honey withouth bees”. Just like many other inventions, also the production of cane sugar was kept in secret. Also because of the fact, that sugar could have been exported with great profit.

Only the great expansion of Arabs in the 7th century lead to the publication of this secret. In 642 the Arabs invaded Persia and learned there about cane and cane sugare manufacturing. Together with their expansion the cane sugar production spread in the other occupied countries, together with Africa and Spain

In the 11the century the cruasaders were the ones who discovered cane sugar for the rest of the Europe. When coming back home they enthusiastically talked about this new “spice”. First records about sugar in England comes from the year 1099. But in those times and in the next centuries sugar remained luxurious article. In 1319 a pound of sugar was sold for 2 shillings, which corresponds with a price of 100 USD for a kilogram today!

In 15th century the only european sugar refinery was in Venezia. Still only a small quantity of sugar was produced. Maybe that this fact moved Christopher Columbus to také the seedlings of cane on his journey. On the other hand this is very inunderstandable, because his conviction was, that America was India. Then the exportation of cane to “India” would be as carrying coals to Newcastle. But cane found great conditions on the new continent and it started to spread there very quickly. Later the American cane industry was born. The first supplies for Europe came in 1554 from Cuba and Mexico.

Sugar production grew quickly. In 1750 there were 120 refineries only in England. But their capacity was 30.000 tones. The demand was so big that even this was not enough. Sugar started to be called “white gold”.

But sugar cane was not the only source of sugar manufacturing. In 1605 a French Olivier de Serres get sugar from some beets which grew as a wild plant on the sea coasts. But larger production wasn´t started untill the beginning of 19th century, when a chemician F.K. Achard cultivated a cultivar in Silesia, it was called Silasian white. Shortly after this Achard built the first sugar factory. But nobody trusted in it much: cane is cane. First during the reign of the emperor Napoleon everything changed. While Napoleon was at war with England he prohibited all commercial connections with this country. England did not mind this fac very much, but the continental Europe had to do without goods transported from overseas. And also without sugar. The the great moment for beet came: sugar-beet and sugar factories could celebrated a triumph. This sugar didn´t come to England until the first world war, when also the Englishmen were forced to “taste” the sugar made from sugar-beet.

(both picture from  www.btsnet.com.pl/cukier/historiae.htm)

Today sugar is produced in many country all over the world. In a year about 120 millions of tones are produced, and every year this number grows by 20 millions of tones. These three producers produce 40% of this quantity – European union, Brasil and India.