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141-453: Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting , soluble carbohydrates , many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides , include glucose , fructose , and galactose . Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double sugars, are molecules made of two bonded monosaccharides; common examples are sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose), and maltose (two molecules of glucose). White sugar
282-491: A G-protein coupled receptor that is the sweetness receptor in mammals. Human studies have shown that sweet taste receptors are not only found in the tongue, but also in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract as well as the nasal epithelium, pancreatic islet cells, sperm and testes. It is proposed that the presence of sweet taste receptors in the GI tract controls the feeling of hunger and satiety. Another research has shown that
423-401: A cultivated variety of Beta vulgaris in the family Amaranthaceae , the tuberous root of which contains a high proportion of sucrose. It is cultivated as a root crop in temperate regions with adequate rainfall and requires a fertile soil. The crop is harvested mechanically in the autumn and the crown of leaves and excess soil removed. The roots do not deteriorate rapidly and may be left in
564-464: A glassy state and becomes an amorphous solid (noncrystalline). The viscosity of honey is affected greatly by both temperature and water content. The higher the water percentage, the more easily honey flows . Above its melting point, however, water has little effect on viscosity. Aside from water content, the composition of most types of honey also has little effect on viscosity. At 25 °C (77 °F), honey with 14% water content generally has
705-598: A supercooled solution of various sugars in water. These concentrations of sugar can only be achieved near room temperature by evaporation of a less concentrated solution, in this case nectar. For osmotic reasons such high concentrations of sugar are extremely unfavorable to microbiological reproduction and all fermentation is consequently halted. The bees then cap the cells of finished honey with wax. This seals them from contamination and prevents further evaporation. So long as its water concentration does not rise much above 18%, honey has an indefinite shelf life, both within
846-452: A corresponding AH-B unit on the biological sweetness receptor to produce the sensation of sweetness. B-X theory was proposed by Lemont Kier in 1972. While previous researchers had noted that among some groups of compounds, there seemed to be a correlation between hydrophobicity and sweetness. This theory formalized these observations by proposing that to be sweet, a compound must have a third binding site (labeled X) that could interact with
987-493: A diet high in free sugar, especially refined sugar, was damaging to human health . In 2015, the World Health Organization strongly recommended that adults and children reduce their intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake and encouraged a reduction to below 5%. In general, high sugar consumption damages human health more than it provides nutritional benefit and is associated with
1128-408: A few types have non-Newtonian viscous properties. Honeys from heather or manuka display thixotropic properties. These types of honey enter a gel-like state when motionless, but liquefy when stirred. Because honey contains electrolytes , in the form of acids and minerals, it exhibits varying degrees of electrical conductivity . Measurements of the electrical conductivity are used to determine
1269-555: A food for their larvae . To this end bees stockpile honey to provide for themselves during ordinary foraging as well as during lean periods, as in overwintering . During foraging bees use part of the nectar they collect to power their flight muscles. The majority of nectar collected is not used to directly nourish the insects but is instead destined for regurgitation , enzymatic digestion , and finally long-term storage as honey. During cold weather or when other food sources are scarce, adult and larval bees consume stored honey, which
1410-469: A honey, which may be described as "sweet", "flowery", "citrus", "almond" or "rancid", among other terms. In addition, VOCs play a large role in determining the specific flavor of the honey, both through the aromas and flavor. VOCs from honeys in different geographic regions can be used as floral markers of those regions, and as markers of the bees that foraged the nectars. Honey is classified by its source (floral or not), and divisions are made according to
1551-472: A hydrophobic site on the sweetness receptor via London dispersion forces . Later researchers have statistically analyzed the distances between the presumed AH, B, and X sites in several families of sweet substances to estimate the distances between these interaction sites on the sweetness receptor. The most elaborate theory of sweetness to date is the multipoint attachment theory (MPA) proposed by Jean-Marie Tinti and Claude Nofre in 1991. This theory involves
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#17327731663811692-695: A long and varied history, with its beginnings in prehistoric times . Several cave paintings in Cuevas de la Araña in Spain depict humans foraging for honey at least 8,000 years ago. While Apis mellifera is an Old World insect , large-scale meliponiculture of New World stingless bees has been practiced by Mayans since pre-Columbian times. Honey is produced by bees who have collected nectar or honeydew . Bees value honey for its sugars, which they consume to support general metabolic activity , especially that of their flight muscles during foraging , and as
1833-571: A negligible amount of iron or any other nutrient. Because brown sugar contains 5–10% molasses reintroduced during processing, its value to some consumers is a richer flavor than white sugar. High sugar consumption damages human health more than it provides nutritional benefit, and in particular is associated with a risk of cardiometabolic health detriments. Sugar refiners and manufacturers of sugary foods and drinks have sought to influence medical research and public health recommendations, with substantial and largely clandestine spending documented from
1974-436: A possible fire), making them less aggressive, and obscures the pheromones the bees use to communicate. The honeycomb is removed from the hive and the honey may be extracted from it either by crushing or by using a honey extractor . The honey is then usually filtered to remove beeswax and other debris. Before the invention of removable frames, bee colonies were often sacrificed to conduct the harvest. The harvester would take all
2115-631: A primary role in determining honey flavors and aromas . VOCs are carbon-based compounds that readily vaporize into the air, providing aroma, including the scents of flowers, essential oils, or ripening fruit. The typical chemical families of VOCs found in honey include hydrocarbons , aldehydes , alcohols , ketones , esters , acids , benzenes , furans , pyrans , norisoprenoids , and terpenes , among many others and their derivatives. The specific VOCs and their amounts vary considerably between different types of honey obtained by bees foraging on different plant sources. By example, when comparing
2256-449: A primary role in determining the exact temperature. Of these acids, the amino acids, which occur in very small amounts, play an important role in the darkening of honey. The amino acids form darkened compounds called melanoidins , during a Maillard reaction . The Maillard reaction occurs slowly at room temperature, taking from a few to several months to show visible darkening, but speeds up dramatically with increasing temperatures. However,
2397-621: A range of methodological variables, from sampling to analysis and interpretation. Indeed, the taste index of 1, assigned to reference substances such as sucrose (for sweetness), hydrochloric acid (for sourness), quinine (for bitterness), and sodium chloride (for saltiness), is itself arbitrary for practical purposes. Some values, such as those for maltose and glucose, vary little. Others, such as aspartame and sodium saccharin, have much larger variation. Even some inorganic compounds are sweet, including beryllium chloride and lead(II) acetate . The latter may have contributed to lead poisoning among
2538-521: A risk of cardiometabolic and other health detriments. The etymology of sugar reflects the commodity's spread. From Sanskrit śarkarā , meaning "ground or candied sugar", came Persian shakar and Arabic sukkar . The Arabic word was borrowed in Medieval Latin as succarum , whence came the 12th century French sucre and the English sugar . Sugar was introduced into Europe by
2679-518: A solid), so melting crystallized honey can easily result in localized caramelization if the heat source is too hot or not evenly distributed. However, honey takes substantially longer to liquefy when just above the melting point than at elevated temperatures. Melting 20 kg (44 lb) of crystallized honey at 40 °C (104 °F) can take up to 24 hours, while 50 kg (110 lb) may take twice as long. These times can be cut nearly in half by heating at 50 °C (122 °F); however, many of
2820-418: A solution of fructose and other ingredients. The density of honey typically ranges between 1.38 and 1.45 kg/L at 20 °C. The melting point of crystallized honey is between 40 and 50 °C (104 and 122 °F), depending on its composition. Below this temperature, honey can be either in a metastable state, meaning that it will not crystallize until a seed crystal is added, or, more often, it
2961-451: A sweet taste but are not classified as sugar. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants. Honey and fruits are abundant natural sources of simple sugars. Sucrose is especially concentrated in sugarcane and sugar beet , making them ideal for efficient commercial extraction to make refined sugar. In 2016, the combined world production of those two crops was about two billion tonnes . Maltose may be produced by malting grain. Lactose
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#17327731663813102-431: A total of eight interaction sites between a sweetener and the sweetness receptor, although not all sweeteners interact with all eight sites. This model has successfully directed efforts aimed at finding highly potent sweeteners, including the most potent family of sweeteners known to date, the guanidine sweeteners. The most potent of these, lugduname , is about 225,000 times sweeter than sucrose. Honey Honey
3243-438: A very limited extent, though ruminants can do so with the help of symbiotic bacteria in their gut. DNA and RNA are built up of the monosaccharides deoxyribose and ribose , respectively. Deoxyribose has the formula C 5 H 10 O 4 and ribose the formula C 5 H 10 O 5 . Because sugars burn easily when exposed to flame, the handling of sugars risks dust explosion . The risk of explosion
3384-463: A viscosity around 400 poise , while a honey containing 20% water has a viscosity around 20 poise. Viscosity increases very slowly with moderate cooling; a honey containing 16% water, at 70 °C (158 °F), has a viscosity around 2 poise, while at 30 °C (86 °F), the viscosity is around 70 poise. With further cooling, the increase in viscosity is more rapid, reaching 600 poise at around 14 °C (57 °F). However, while honey
3525-413: A whiter product. About 2,500 litres (660 US gal) of irrigation water is needed for every one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of sugar produced. In 2020, global production of sugar beets was 253 million tonnes , led by Russia with 13% of the world total (table). Sugar beet became a major source of sugar in the 19th century when methods for extracting the sugar became available. It is a biennial plant ,
3666-555: Is stevioside , from the South American shrub Stevia rebaudiana . It is roughly 250 times sweeter than sucrose. Another class of potent natural sweeteners are the sweet proteins such as thaumatin , found in the West African katemfe fruit. Hen egg lysozyme , an antibiotic protein found in chicken eggs , is also sweet. Some variation in values is not uncommon between various studies. Such variations may arise from
3807-721: Is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose , many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes , ketones , and sugar alcohols . Some are sweet at very low concentrations, allowing their use as non-caloric sugar substitutes . Such non-sugar sweeteners include saccharin , aspartame , sucralose and stevia . Other compounds, such as miraculin , may alter perception of sweetness itself. The perceived intensity of sugars and high-potency sweeteners, such as aspartame and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone , are heritable, with gene effect accounting for approximately 30% of
3948-421: Is a refined form of sucrose. In the body, compound sugars are hydrolysed into simple sugars. Longer chains of monosaccharides (>2) are not regarded as sugars and are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides . Starch is a glucose polymer found in plants, the most abundant source of energy in human food . Some other chemical substances, such as ethylene glycol , glycerol and sugar alcohols , may have
4089-471: Is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees , the best-known of which are honey bees . Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primarily floral nectar ) or the secretions of other insects, like the honeydew of aphids. This refinement takes place both within individual bees, through regurgitation and enzymatic activity, and during storage in
4230-508: Is a tendency to prefer immature leaves, which tend to be higher in protein and lower in fibre and poisons than mature leaves. The "sweet tooth" thus has an ancient heritage, and while food processing has changed consumption patterns, human physiology remains largely unchanged. Biologically, a variant in fibroblast growth factor 21 increases craving for sweet foods. A great diversity of chemical compounds , such as aldehydes and ketones , are sweet. Among common biological substances, all of
4371-414: Is also affected by water content, because a high percentage of water inhibits crystallization, as does a high dextrin content. Temperature also affects the rate of crystallization, with the fastest growth occurring between 13 and 17 °C (55 and 63 °F). Crystal nuclei (seeds) tend to form more readily if the honey is disturbed, by stirring, shaking, or agitating, rather than if left at rest. However,
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4512-607: Is an important food for virtually all hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, with the Hadza people ranking honey as their favorite food. Honey hunters in Africa have a mutualistic relationship with certain species of honeyguide birds. Possibly the world's oldest fermented beverage , dating from 9,000 years ago, mead ("honey wine") is the alcoholic product made by adding yeast to honey-water must and fermenting it for weeks or months. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
4653-477: Is any of several species, or their hybrids, of giant grasses in the genus Saccharum in the family Poaceae . They have been cultivated in tropical climates in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia over centuries for the sucrose found in their stems. Sugar cane requires a frost-free climate with sufficient rainfall during the growing season to make full use of the plant's substantial growth potential. The crop
4794-408: Is collected from wild bee colonies or from domesticated beehives. On average, a hive will produce about 29 kilograms (65 lb) of honey per year. Wild bee nests are sometimes located by following a honeyguide bird. To safely collect honey from a hive, beekeepers typically pacify the bees using a bee smoker . The smoke triggers a feeding instinct (an attempt to save the resources of the hive from
4935-570: Is commonly used in modern mead production. Mead varieties include drinks called metheglin (with spices or herbs), melomel (with fruit juices, such as grape, specifically called pyment ), hippocras (with cinnamon ), and sack mead (high concentration of honey), many of which have been developed as commercial products numbering in the hundreds in the United States. Honey is also used to make mead beer , called "braggot". The physical properties of honey vary, depending on water content,
5076-486: Is due to the amount of molasses they contain. They may be classified based on their darkness or country of origin. Worldwide sugar provides 10% of the daily calories (based on a 2000 kcal diet). In 1750, the average Briton got 72 calories a day from sugar. In 1913, this had risen to 395. In 2015, sugar still provided around 14% of the calories in British diets. According to one source, per capita consumption of sugar in 2016
5217-437: Is filtered out, many of the impurities are removed at the same time. Removal of color is achieved by using either a granular activated carbon or an ion-exchange resin . The sugar syrup is concentrated by boiling and then cooled and seeded with sugar crystals, causing the sugar to crystallize out. The liquor is spun off in a centrifuge and the white crystals are dried in hot air and ready to be packaged or used. The surplus liquor
5358-443: Is harvested mechanically or by hand, chopped into lengths and conveyed rapidly to the processing plant (commonly known as a sugar mill ) where it is either milled and the juice extracted with water or extracted by diffusion. The juice is clarified with lime and heated to destroy enzymes . The resulting thin syrup is concentrated in a series of evaporators, after which further water is removed. The resulting supersaturated solution
5499-416: Is higher when the sugar has been milled to superfine texture, such as for use in chewing gum . The 2008 Georgia sugar refinery explosion , which killed 14 people and injured 36, and destroyed most of the refinery, was caused by the ignition of sugar dust. In its culinary use, exposing sugar to heat causes caramelization . As the process occurs, volatile chemicals such as diacetyl are released, producing
5640-594: Is in a "labile" state, being saturated with enough sugars to crystallize spontaneously. The rate of crystallization is affected by many factors, but the primary factor is the ratio of the main sugars: fructose to glucose. Honeys that are supersaturated with a very high percentage of glucose, such as brassica honey, crystallize almost immediately after harvesting, while honeys with a low percentage of glucose, such as chestnut or tupelo honey, do not crystallize. Some types of honey may produce few but very large crystals, while others produce many small crystals. Crystallization
5781-415: Is in their own honey stomachs, the hive bees regurgitate the nectar, repeatedly forming bubbles between their mandibles , speeding its digestion and concentration. These bubbles create a large surface area per volume and by this means the bees evaporate a portion of the nectar's water into the warm air of the hive. Hive bees form honey-processing groups. These groups work in relay, with one bee subjecting
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5922-399: Is known as affination and involves immersing the sugar crystals in a concentrated syrup that softens and removes the sticky brown coating without dissolving them. The crystals are then separated from the liquor and dissolved in water. The resulting syrup is treated either by a carbonatation or by a phosphatation process. Both involve the precipitation of a fine solid in the syrup and when this
6063-605: Is limiting access to humidity. In its cured state, honey has a sufficiently high sugar content to inhibit fermentation. If exposed to moist air, its hydrophilic properties pull moisture into the honey, eventually diluting it to the point that fermentation can begin. The long shelf life of honey is attributed to an enzyme found in the stomach of bees. The bees mix glucose oxidase with expelled nectar they previously consumed, creating two byproducts – gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide , which are partially responsible for honey acidity and suppression of bacterial growth. Honey
6204-425: Is made from raw sugar that has undergone a refining process to remove the molasses . Raw sugar is sucrose which is extracted from sugarcane or sugar beet . While raw sugar can be consumed, the refining process removes unwanted tastes and results in refined sugar or white sugar. The sugar may be transported in bulk to the country where it will be used and the refining process often takes place there. The first stage
6345-451: Is made into refiners' molasses. The International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis sets standards for the measurement of the purity of refined sugar, known as ICUMSA numbers; lower numbers indicate a higher level of purity in the refined sugar. Refined sugar is widely used for industrial needs for higher quality. Refined sugar is purer (ICUMSA below 300) than raw sugar (ICUMSA over 1,500). The level of purity associated with
6486-399: Is many times as energy-dense as the nectar from which it is made. After leaving the hive, a foraging bee collects sugar-rich nectar or honeydew. Nectar from the flower generally has a water content of 70 to 80% and is much less viscous than finished honey, which usually has a water content around 18%. The water content of honeydew from aphids and other true bugs is generally very close to
6627-421: Is normal. At very low temperatures, honey does not freeze solid; rather its viscosity increases. Like most viscous liquids , the honey becomes thick and sluggish with decreasing temperature. At −20 °C (−4 °F), honey may appear or even feel solid, but it continues to flow at very low rates. Honey has a glass transition between −42 and −51 °C (−44 and −60 °F). Below this temperature, honey enters
6768-573: Is often pasteurized , to kill any yeast, by heating it above 70 °C (158 °F). Like all sugar compounds, honey caramelizes if heated sufficiently, becoming darker in color, and eventually burns. However, honey contains fructose, which caramelizes at lower temperatures than glucose. The temperature at which caramelization begins varies, depending on the composition, but is typically between 70 and 110 °C (158 and 230 °F). Honey also contains acids, which act as catalysts for caramelization. The specific types of acids and their amounts play
6909-406: Is perceived as sweetness for up to an hour afterwards. While curculin has some innate sweet taste of its own, miraculin is by itself quite tasteless. Despite the wide variety of chemical substances known to be sweet, and knowledge that the ability to perceive sweet taste must reside in taste buds on the tongue , the biomolecular mechanism of sweet taste was sufficiently elusive that as recently as
7050-598: Is preferred because all bee colonies, even those in very large agricultural apiculture operations, readily leave the protection of humans in swarms that can establish successful wild colonies. Much of the effort in commercial beekeeping is dedicated to persuading a hive that is ready to swarm to produce more honeycomb in its present location. This is usually done by adding more space to the colony with honey supers , empty boxes placed on top of an existing colony. The bees can then usually be enticed to develop this empty space instead of dividing their colony through swarming. Honey
7191-419: Is quite variable. New World monkeys do not find aspartame sweet, while Old World monkeys and apes (including most humans) all do. Felids like domestic cats cannot perceive sweetness at all. The ability to taste sweetness often atrophies genetically in species of carnivores who do not eat sweet foods like fruits, including bottlenose dolphins , sea lions , spotted hyenas and fossas . To depolarize
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#17327731663817332-412: Is seeded with sugar crystals, facilitating crystal formation and drying. Molasses is a by-product of the process and the fiber from the stems, known as bagasse , is burned to provide energy for the sugar extraction process. The crystals of raw sugar have a sticky brown coating and either can be used as they are, can be bleached by sulfur dioxide , or can be treated in a carbonatation process to produce
7473-441: Is sometimes adulterated by the addition of other sugars, syrups, or compounds to change its flavor or viscosity, reduce cost, or increase the fructose content to inhibit crystallization . Honey has been adulterated since ancient times, when honey was sometimes blended with plant syrups such as maple , birch , or sorghum and sold to customers as pure honey. Sometimes crystallized honey was mixed with flour or other fillers, hiding
7614-419: Is sometimes used as a sweetener for foods (e.g., toast and cereal) and beverages (e.g., coffee and tea). The average person consumes about 24 kilograms (53 pounds) of sugar each year. North and South Americans consume up to 50 kg (110 lb), and Africans consume under 20 kg (44 lb). As free sugar consumption grew in the latter part of the 20th century, researchers began to examine whether
7755-523: Is still used locally to make desserts today. Sugarcane is native of tropical areas such as the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and Southeast Asia. Different species seem to have originated from different locations; Saccharum barberi originated in India, and S. edule and S. officinarum came from New Guinea . One of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating to
7896-605: Is sweet because of its high concentrations of the monosaccharides fructose and glucose . It has about the same relative sweetness as sucrose (table sugar). One standard tablespoon (15 mL) of honey provides around 190 kilojoules (46 kilocalories) of food energy . It has attractive chemical properties for baking and a distinctive flavor when used as a sweetener. Most microorganisms cannot grow in honey and sealed honey therefore does not spoil . Samples of honey discovered in archaeological contexts have proven edible even after millennia. Honey use and production has
8037-439: Is the only sugar that cannot be extracted from plants. It can only be found in milk, including human breast milk, and in some dairy products . A cheap source of sugar is corn syrup , industrially produced by converting corn starch into sugars, such as maltose, fructose and glucose. Sucrose is used in prepared foods (e.g., cookies and cakes), is sometimes added to commercially available ultra-processed food and beverages, and
8178-399: Is viscous, it has low surface tension of 50–60 mJ/m , making its wettability similar to water, glycerin , or most other liquids. The high viscosity and wettability of honey cause stickiness , which is a time-dependent process in supercooled liquids between the glass-transition temperature (T g ) and the crystalline-melting temperature. Most types of honey are Newtonian liquids , but
8319-602: The Khyber Pass and caravan routes. It was not plentiful or cheap in early times, and in most parts of the world, honey was more often used for sweetening. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness. Even after refined sugarcane became more widely available during the European colonial era, palm sugar was preferred in Java and other sugar producing parts of southeast Asia, and along with coconut sugar ,
8460-515: The World Health Organization (WHO) provides evidence that high intake of sugary drinks (including fruit juice ) increases the risk of obesity by adding to overall energy intake . By itself, sugar is doubtfully a factor causing obesity and metabolic syndrome . Meta-analysis showed that excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages increased the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome – including weight gain and obesity – in adults and children. Sweetness Sweetness
8601-559: The ancient Roman aristocracy: the Roman delicacy sapa was prepared by boiling soured wine (containing acetic acid ) in lead pots. Hundreds of synthetic organic compounds are known to be sweet, but only a few of these are legally permitted as food additives. For example, chloroform , nitrobenzene , and ethylene glycol are sweet, but also toxic. Saccharin , cyclamate , aspartame , acesulfame potassium , sucralose , alitame , and neotame are commonly used. A few substances alter
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#17327731663818742-516: The molecular formula C 6 H 12 O 6 . The names of typical sugars end with - ose , as in "glucose" and " fructose ". Sometimes such words may also refer to any types of carbohydrates soluble in water. The acyclic mono- and disaccharides contain either aldehyde groups or ketone groups. These carbon-oxygen double bonds (C=O) are the reactive centers. All saccharides with more than one ring in their structure result from two or more monosaccharides joined by glycosidic bonds with
8883-443: The nucleation of microscopic seed-crystals is greatest between 5 and 8 °C (41 and 46 °F). Therefore, larger but fewer crystals tend to form at higher temperatures, while smaller but more-numerous crystals usually form at lower temperatures. Below 5 °C, the honey will not crystallize, thus the original texture and flavor can be preserved indefinitely. Honey is a supercooled liquid when stored below its melting point, as
9024-457: The 12th century, the Republic of Venice acquired some villages near Tyre and set up estates to produce sugar for export to Europe. It supplemented the use of honey, which had previously been the only available sweetener. Crusade chronicler William of Tyre , writing in the late 12th century, described sugar as "very necessary for the use and health of mankind". In the 15th century, Venice was
9165-546: The 1960s to 2016. The results of research on the health effects of sugary food and drink differ significantly, depending on whether the researcher has financial ties to the food and drink industry. A 2013 medical review concluded that "unhealthy commodity industries should have no role in the formation of national or international NCD [ non-communicable disease ] policy". Similar efforts to steer coverage of sugar-related health information have been made in popular media, including news media and social media. A 2003 technical report by
9306-480: The 1990s, there was some doubt whether any single "sweetness receptor" actually exists. The breakthrough for the present understanding of sweetness occurred in 2001, when experiments with laboratory mice showed that mice possessing different versions of the gene T1R3 prefer sweet foods to different extents. Subsequent research has shown that the T1R3 protein forms a complex with a related protein, called T1R2 , to form
9447-678: The 8th century BCE, which state that the use of sugarcane originated in India. In the tradition of Indian medicine ( āyurveda ), sugarcane is known by the name Ikṣu , and sugarcane juice is known as Phāṇita . Its varieties, synonyms and characteristics are defined in nighaṇṭus such as the Bhāvaprakāśa (1.6.23, group of sugarcanes). Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store and transport. The Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides attested to
9588-675: The Arabs in Sicily and Spain. The English word jaggery , a coarse brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin: Portuguese jágara from the Malayalam cakkarā , which is from the Sanskrit śarkarā . Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. Sugarcane cultivation spread from there into China via
9729-614: The Elder also described sugar in his 1st century CE 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. " Crusaders brought sugar back to Europe after their campaigns in the Holy Land , where they encountered caravans carrying "sweet salt". Early in
9870-580: The United States, according to the National Honey Board, "Ensuring honey authenticity is one of the great challenges facing the honey industry today. Over the past half century, a number of honey testing methods have been developed to detect food fraud. To date, there is no single universal analytical method available which is capable of detecting all types of adulteration with adequate sensitivity." Isotope ratio mass spectrometry can be used to detect addition of corn syrup and cane sugar by
10011-430: The ability to absorb moisture directly from the air, a phenomenon called hygroscopy . The amount of water the honey absorbs is dependent on the relative humidity of the air. Because honey contains yeast, this hygroscopic nature requires that honey be stored in sealed containers to prevent fermentation, which usually begins if the honey's water content rises much above 25%. Honey tends to absorb more water in this manner than
10152-555: The adulteration from buyers until the honey was liquefied. In modern times, the most common adulterant became clear, almost-flavorless corn syrup; the adulterated mixture can be very difficult to distinguish from pure honey. According to the Codex Alimentarius of the United Nations, any product labeled as "honey" or "pure honey" must be a wholly natural product, although labeling laws differ between countries. In
10293-438: The available honey and replace the entire colony the next spring. Since the invention of removable frames, the principles of husbandry led most beekeepers to ensure that their bees have enough stores to survive the winter, either by leaving some honey in the beehive or by providing the colony with a honey substitute such as sugar water or crystalline sugar (often in the form of a "candyboard"). The amount of food necessary to survive
10434-470: The best and most complete account we have of a late medieval banquet" includes the first mention of sugar sculptures, as the final food brought in was "a heraldic menagerie sculpted in sugar: lions, stags, monkeys ... each holding in paw or beak the arms of the Hungarian king ". Other recorded grand feasts in the decades following included similar pieces. Originally the sculptures seem to have been eaten in
10575-481: The carbon isotopic signature . Addition of sugars originating from corn or sugar cane ( C4 plants , unlike the plants used by bees, and also sugar beet , which are predominantly C3 plants ) skews the isotopic ratio of sugars present in honey, but does not influence the isotopic ratio of proteins. In an unadulterated honey, the carbon isotopic ratios of sugars and proteins should match. Levels as low as 7% of addition can be detected. In 2020, global production of honey
10716-402: The cell, and ultimately generate a response, the body uses different cells in the taste bud that each express a receptor for the perception of sweet, sour, salty, bitter or umami . Downstream of the taste receptor , the taste cells for sweet, bitter and umami share the same intracellular signalling pathway. Incoming sweet molecules bind to their receptors, which causes a conformational change in
10857-455: The centers of distribution, became known for candied fruit, while Venice specialized in pastries, sweets (candies), and sugar sculptures . Sugar was considered to have "valuable medicinal properties" as a "warm" food under prevailing categories, being "helpful to the stomach, to cure cold diseases, and sooth lung complaints". A feast given in Tours in 1457 by Gaston de Foix , which is "probably
10998-477: The characteristic caramel flavor. Fructose, galactose, and glucose are all simple sugars, monosaccharides, with the general formula C 6 H 12 O 6 . They have five hydroxyl groups (−OH) and a carbonyl group (C=O) and are cyclic when dissolved in water. They each exist as several isomers with dextro- and laevo-rotatory forms that cause polarized light to diverge to the right or the left. Lactose, maltose, and sucrose are all compound sugars, disaccharides, with
11139-586: The chief sugar refining and distribution center in Europe. There was a drastic change in the mid-15th century, when Madeira and the Canary Islands were settled from Europe and sugar introduced there. After this an "all-consuming passion for sugar ... swept through society" as it became far more easily available, though initially still very expensive. By 1492, Madeira was producing over 1,400,000 kilograms (3,000,000 lb) of sugar annually. Genoa , one of
11280-435: The colonization of tropical islands and areas where labor-intensive sugarcane plantations and sugar manufacturing facilities could be successful. World consumption increased more than 100 times from 1850 to 2000, led by Britain, where it increased from about 2 pounds per head per year in 1650 to 90 pounds by the early 20th century. In the late 18th century Britain consumed about half the sugar which reached Europe. After slavery
11421-427: The colony to a site for a new hive. Bees generally swarm before a suitable location for another hive has been discovered by scouts sent out for this purpose. Until such a location is found the swarm will simply conglomerate near the former hive, often from tree branches. These swarms are unusually docile and amenable to transport by humans. When provided with a suitable nesting site, such as a commercial Langstroth hive ,
11562-407: The colors of sugar, expressed by standard number ICUMSA , the smaller ICUMSA numbers indicate the higher purity of sugar. Brown sugars are granulated sugars, either containing residual molasses, or with the grains deliberately coated with molasses to produce a light- or dark-colored sugar such as muscovado and turbinado . They are used in baked goods, confectionery, and toffees . Their darkness
11703-499: The depolarization and releases ATP neurotransmitter which activates the afferent neurons innervating the taste bud. The color of food can affect sweetness perception. Adding more red color to a drink increases its perceived sweetness. In a study darker colored solutions were rated 2–10% higher than lighter ones despite having 1% less sucrose concentration. The effect of color is believed to be due to cognitive expectations. Some odors smell sweet and memory confuses whether sweetness
11844-442: The development and use of various artificial sweeteners . Scientifically, sugar loosely refers to a number of carbohydrates , such as monosaccharides , disaccharides , or oligosaccharides . Monosaccharides are also called "simple sugars", the most important being glucose. Most monosaccharides have a formula that conforms to C n H 2n O n with n between 3 and 7 ( deoxyribose being an exception). Glucose has
11985-585: The difficulty of importing sugar when shipping was subject to blockade . By 1880 the sugar beet was the main source of sugar in Europe. It was also 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 . In later years, granulated sugar
12126-462: The early 20th century, the theory of sweetness enjoyed little further academic attention until 1963, when Robert Shallenberger and Terry Acree proposed the AH-B theory of sweetness. Simply put, they proposed that to be sweet, a compound must contain a hydrogen bond donor (AH) and a Lewis base (B) separated by about 0.3 nanometres . According to this theory, the AH-B unit of a sweetener binds with
12267-457: The field for some weeks before being transported to the processing plant where the crop is washed and sliced, and the sugar extracted by diffusion. Milk of lime is added to the raw juice with calcium carbonate . After water is evaporated by boiling the syrup under a vacuum, the syrup is cooled and seeded with sugar crystals. The white sugar that crystallizes can be separated in a centrifuge and dried, requiring no further refining. Refined sugar
12408-497: The flora also have an effect on honey aroma properties, such as a "fruity" or "grassy" aroma from longan honey, or a "waxy" aroma from sunflower honey. Dominant VOCs in one study were linalool oxide , trans-linalool oxide, 2- phenylacetaldehyde , benzyl ethanol , isophorone , and methyl nonanoate . VOCs can also be introduced from the bodies of the bees, be produced by the enzymatic actions of digestion, or from chemical reactions that occur between different substances within
12549-462: The form of storage polysaccharides such as starch or inulin . Starch, consisting of two different polymers of glucose, is a readily degradable form of chemical energy stored by cells , and can be converted to other types of energy. Another polymer of glucose is cellulose, which is a linear chain composed of several hundred or thousand glucose units. It is used by plants as a structural component in their cell walls. Humans can digest cellulose only to
12690-495: The general formula C 12 H 22 O 11 . They are formed by the combination of two monosaccharide molecules with the exclusion of a molecule of water. The sugar contents of common fruits and vegetables are presented in Table 1. Due to rising demand, sugar production in general increased some 14% over the period 2009 to 2018. The largest importers were China, Indonesia , and the United States. In 2022/3 world production of sugar
12831-475: The hive and after its removal by a beekeeper . Honey bees are not the only eusocial insects to produce honey. All non-parasitic bumblebees and stingless bees produce honey. Some wasp species, such as Brachygastra lecheguana and Brachygastra mellifica , found in South and Central America, are known to feed on nectar and produce honey. Other wasps, such as Polistes versicolor , also consume honey. In
12972-425: The hive, through water evaporation that concentrates the honey's sugars until it is thick and viscous. Honey bees stockpile honey in the hive . Within the hive is a structure made from wax called honeycomb . The honeycomb is made up of hundreds or thousands of hexagonal cells, into which the bees regurgitate honey for storage. Other honey-producing species of bee store the substance in different structures, such as
13113-466: The honey during storage, and therefore may change, increase, or decrease over long periods of time. VOCs may be produced, altered, or greatly affected by temperature and processing. Some VOCs are heat labile, and are destroyed at elevated temperatures, while others can be created during non-enzymatic reactions, such as the Maillard reaction . VOCs are responsible for nearly all of the aroma produced by
13254-404: The honey stomach holds about 40 mg of liquid. This is about half the weight of an unladen bee. Collecting this quantity in nectar can require visits to more than a thousand flowers. When nectar is plentiful, it can take a bee more than an hour of ceaseless work to collect enough nectar to fill its honey crop. Salivary enzymes and proteins from the bee's hypopharyngeal gland are secreted into
13395-431: The honey-storage areas. This temperature is regulated either by generating heat with their bodies or removing it through water evaporation. The evaporation removes water from the stored honey, drawing heat from the colony. The bees use their wings to govern hive cooling. Coordinated wing beating moves air across the wet honey, drawing out water and heat. Ventilation of the hive eventually expels both excess water and heat into
13536-447: The individual sugars allow on their own, which may be due to other ingredients it contains. Fermentation of honey usually occurs after crystallization, because without the glucose, the liquid portion of the honey primarily consists of a concentrated mixture of fructose, acids, and water, providing the yeast with enough of an increase in the water percentage for growth. Honey that is to be stored at room temperature for long periods of time
13677-433: The larger compounds. In 1919, Oertly and Myers proposed a more elaborate theory based on a then-current theory of color in synthetic dyes. They hypothesized that to be sweet, a compound must contain one each of two classes of structural motif, a glucophore and an auxogluc . Based on those compounds known to be sweet at the time, they proposed a list of six candidate glucophores and nine auxoglucs. From these beginnings in
13818-418: The leaves of the Indian vine Gymnema sylvestre and ziziphin , from the leaves of the Chinese jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba ). Gymnemic acid has been widely promoted within herbal medicine as a treatment for sugar cravings and diabetes. On the other hand, two plant proteins, miraculin and curculin , cause sour foods to taste sweet. Once the tongue has been exposed to either of these proteins, sourness
13959-512: The meal, but later they become merely table decorations, the most elaborate called trionfi . Several significant sculptors are known to have produced them; in some cases their preliminary drawings survive. Early ones were in brown sugar, partly cast in molds, with the final touches carved. They continued to be used until at least the Coronation Banquet for Edward VII of the United Kingdom in 1903; among other sculptures every guest
14100-403: The method in his 1st century CE medical treatise De Materia Medica : There is a kind of coalesced honey called sakcharon [i.e. sugar] found in reeds in India and Eudaimon Arabia similar in consistency to salt and brittle enough to be broken between the teeth like salt, In the local Indian language, these crystals were called khanda ( Devanagari : खण्ड, Khaṇḍa ), which is the source of
14241-494: The middle of their life cycles they alternate between feeding on protein-rich pollen and feeding on honey, which is a far denser source of food energy . Human beings have semi-domesticated several species of honey bee by taking advantage of their swarming stage. Swarming is the means by which new colonies are established when there is no longer space for expansion in the colony's present hive. The old queen lays eggs that will develop into new queens and then leads as many as half
14382-415: The minor substances in honey can be affected greatly by heating, changing the flavor, aroma, or other properties, so heating is usually done at the lowest temperature and for the shortest time possible. The average pH of honey is 3.9, but can range from 3.4 to 6.1. Honey contains many kinds of acids, both organic and amino . However, the different types and their amounts vary considerably, depending on
14523-567: The mixture of VOCs in different honeys in one review, longan honey had a higher amount of volatiles (48 VOCs), while sunflower honey had the lowest number of volatiles (8 VOCs). VOCs are primarily introduced into the honey from the nectar, where they are excreted by the flowers imparting individual scents. The specific types and concentrations of certain VOCs can be used to determine the type of flora used to produce monofloral honeys. The specific geography, soil composition and acidity used to grow
14664-575: The molecule. This change activates the G-protein, gustducin, which in turn activates phospholipase C to generate inositol trisphosphate ( IP 3 ), this subsequently opens the IP 3 -receptor and induces calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum. This increase in intracellular calcium activates the TRPM5 channel and induces cellular depolarization . The ATP release channel CALHM1 gets activated by
14805-525: The molecules in the open-chain form. Biopolymers of sugars are common in nature. Through photosynthesis, plants produce glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P), a phosphated 3-carbon sugar that is used by the cell to make monosaccharides such as glucose ( C 6 H 12 O 6 ) or (as in cane and beet) sucrose ( C 12 H 22 O 11 ). Monosaccharides may be further converted into structural polysaccharides such as cellulose and pectin for cell wall construction or into energy reserves in
14946-402: The nectar once it is in the bee's honey stomach. These substances begin cleaving complex sugars like sucrose and starches into simpler sugars such as glucose and fructose . This process slightly raises the water content and the acidity of the partially digested nectar. Once filled, the forager bees return to the hive. There they regurgitate and transfer nectar to hive bees. Once it
15087-505: The north coast of Brazil, Demarara , and Surinam . It took until 1600 for Brazilian sugar production to exceed that of São Tomé , which was the main center of sugar production in sixteenth century. Sugar was a luxury in Europe until the early 19th century, when it became more widely available, due to the rise of beet sugar in Prussia , and later in France under Napoleon . Beet sugar
15228-402: The outside world. The process of evaporating continues until the honey reaches its final water content of between 15.5% to 18%. This concentrates the sugars far beyond the saturation point of water, which is to say there is far more sugar dissolved in what little water remains in honey than ever could be dissolved in an equivalent volume of water. Honey, even at hive temperatures, is therefore
15369-456: The polarization plane. The fructose gives a negative rotation, while the glucose gives a positive one. The overall rotation can be used to measure the ratio of the mixture. Honey is generally pale yellow and dark brown in color, but other colors can occur, depending on the sugar source. Bee colonies that forage on Kudzu ( Pueraria montana var. lobata ) flowers, for example, produce honey that varies in color from red to purple. Honey has
15510-456: The pots made of wax and resin used by the stingless bee . Honey for human consumption is collected from wild bee colonies, or from the hives of domesticated bees. The honey produced by honey bees is the most familiar to humans, thanks to its worldwide commercial production and availability. The husbandry of bees is known as beekeeping or apiculture, with the cultivation of stingless bees usually referred to as meliponiculture . Honey
15651-402: The principal monosaccharides present in the blood and internal tissues include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Many pentoses and hexoses can form ring structures . In these closed-chain forms, the aldehyde or ketone group remains non-free, so many of the reactions typical of these groups cannot occur. Glucose in solution exists mostly in the ring form at equilibrium , with less than 0.1% of
15792-431: The processed nectar to bubbling and then passing the refined liquid on to others. It can take as long as 20 minutes of continuous regurgitation, digestion and evaporation until the product reaches storage quality. The new honey is then placed in honeycomb cells, which are left uncapped. This honey still has a very high water content, up to 70%, depending on the concentration of nectar gathered. At this stage of its refinement
15933-415: The quality of honey in terms of ash content. The effect honey has on light is useful for determining the type and quality. Variations in its water content alter its refractive index . Water content can easily be measured with a refractometer . Typically, the refractive index for honey ranges from 1.504 at 13% water content to 1.474 at 25%. Honey also has an effect on polarized light , in that it rotates
16074-435: The reaction can also be slowed by storing the honey at colder temperatures. Unlike many other liquids, honey has very poor thermal conductivity of 0.5 W/(m⋅K) at 13% water content (compared to 401 W/(m⋅K) of copper ), taking a long time to reach thermal equilibrium . Due to its high kinematic viscosity honey does not transfer heat through momentum diffusion ( convection ) but rather through thermal diffusion (more like
16215-406: The resultant loss of a molecule of water ( H 2 O ) per bond. Monosaccharides in a closed-chain form can form glycosidic bonds with other monosaccharides, creating disaccharides (such as sucrose ) and polysaccharides (such as starch or cellulose ). Enzymes must hydrolyze or otherwise break these glycosidic bonds before such compounds become metabolized . After digestion and absorption
16356-503: The sap on which those insects feed and is usually somewhat more dilute than nectar. One source describes the water content of honeydew as around 89%. Whether it is feeding on nectar or honeydew, the bee sucks these runny fluids through its proboscis , which delivers the liquid to the bee's honey stomach or "honey crop". This cavity lies just above its food stomach, the latter of which digests pollen and sugars consumed by an individual honey bee for its own nourishment. In Apis mellifera ,
16497-564: The seventh century. Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 CE, to obtain technology for sugar refining. Nearchus , admiral of Alexander the Great , knew of sugar during the year 325 BC because of his participation in the campaign of India led by Alexander ( Arrian , Anabasis ). In addition to the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides , the Roman Pliny
16638-439: The simple carbohydrates are sweet to at least some degree. Sucrose (table sugar) is the prototypical example of a sweet substance. Sucrose in solution has a sweetness perception rating of 1, and other substances are rated relative to this. For example, another sugar, fructose , is somewhat sweeter, being rated at 1.7 times the sweetness of sucrose. Some of the amino acids are mildly sweet: alanine , glycine , and serine are
16779-714: The sugar found in breast milk. Sweetness appears to have the highest taste recognition threshold , being detectable at around 1 part in 200 of sucrose in solution. By comparison, bitterness appears to have the lowest detection threshold, at about 1 part in 2 million for quinine in solution. In the natural settings that human primate ancestors evolved in, sweetness intensity should indicate energy density , while bitterness tends to indicate toxicity . The high sweetness detection threshold and low bitterness detection threshold would have predisposed our primate ancestors to seek out sweet-tasting (and energy-dense) foods and avoid bitter-tasting foods. Even amongst leaf-eating primates, there
16920-441: The swarm will readily form a new colony in artificial surroundings. These semi-domesticated colonies are then looked after by humans practicing apiculture or meliponiculture. Captured bees are encouraged to forage, often in agricultural settings such as orchards, where pollinators are highly valued. The honey, pollen , wax and resins the bees produce are all harvested by humans for a variety of uses. The term "semi-domesticated"
17061-470: The sweetest. Some other amino acids are perceived as both sweet and bitter. The sweetness of 5% solution of glycine in water compares to a solution of 5.6% glucose or 2.6% fructose. A number of plant species produce glycosides that are sweet at concentrations much lower than common sugars. The most well-known example is glycyrrhizin , the sweet component of licorice root, which is about 30 times sweeter than sucrose. Another commercially important example
17202-418: The threshold of sweet taste perception is in direct correlation with the time of day. This is believed to be the consequence of oscillating leptin levels in blood that may impact the overall sweetness of food. Scientists hypothesize that this is an evolutionary relict of diurnal animals like humans. Sweetness perception may differ between species significantly. For example, even amongst the primates sweetness
17343-425: The type of flora used to produce it (pasturage), temperature, and the proportion of the specific sugars it contains. Fresh honey is a supersaturated liquid, containing more sugar than the water can typically dissolve at ambient temperatures. At room temperature, honey is a supercooled liquid, in which the glucose precipitates into solid granules. This forms a semisolid solution of precipitated glucose crystals in
17484-717: The type of honey. These acids may be aromatic or aliphatic (nonaromatic). The aliphatic acids contribute greatly to the flavor of honey by interacting with the flavors of other ingredients. Organic acids comprise most of the acids in honey, accounting for 0.17–1.17% of the mixture, with gluconic acid formed by the actions of glucose oxidase as the most prevalent. Minor amounts of other organic acids are present, consisting of formic , acetic , butyric , citric , lactic , malic , pyroglutamic , propionic , valeric , capronic , palmitic , and succinic , among many others. Individual honeys from different plant sources contain over 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which play
17625-660: The variation. The chemosensory basis for detecting sweetness, which varies between both individuals and species, has only begun to be understood since the late 20th century. One theoretical model of sweetness is the multipoint attachment theory , which involves multiple binding sites between a sweetness receptor and a sweet substance. Studies indicate that responsiveness to sugars and sweetness has very ancient evolutionary beginnings, being manifest as chemotaxis even in motile bacteria such as E. coli . Newborn human infants also demonstrate preferences for high sugar concentrations and prefer solutions that are sweeter than lactose ,
17766-500: The water content of the honey is high enough that ubiquitous yeast spores can reproduce in it, a process which, if left unchecked, would rapidly consume the new honey's sugars. To combat this, bees use an ability rare among insects: the endogenous generation of heat. Bees are among the few insects that can create large amounts of body heat. They use this ability to produce a constant ambient temperature in their hives. Hive temperatures are usually around 35 °C (95 °F) in
17907-505: The way sweet taste is perceived. One class of these inhibits the perception of sweet tastes, whether from sugars or from highly potent sweeteners. Commercially, the most important of these is lactisole , a compound produced by Domino Sugar . It is used in some jellies and other fruit preserves to bring out their fruit flavors by suppressing their otherwise strong sweetness. Two natural products have been documented to have similar sweetness-inhibiting properties: gymnemic acid , extracted from
18048-613: The winter depends on the variety of bees and on the length and severity of local winters. Many animal species are attracted to wild or domestic sources of honey. Because of its composition and chemical properties, honey is suitable for long-term storage, and is easily assimilated even after long preservation. Honey, and objects immersed in honey, have been preserved for centuries. (However, no edible honey has been found in Egyptian tombs; all such cases have been proven to be other substances or only chemical traces. ) The key to preservation
18189-617: The word candy . Indian sailors, who carried clarified butter and sugar as supplies, introduced knowledge of sugar along the various trade routes they travelled. Traveling Buddhist monks took sugar crystallization methods to China. During the reign of Harsha (r. 606–647) in North India , Indian envoys in Tang China taught methods of cultivating sugarcane after Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626–649) made known his interest in sugar. China established its first sugarcane plantations in
18330-585: Was abolished , the demand for workers in European colonies in the Caribbean was filled by indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent . Millions of enslaved or indentured laborers were brought to various European colonies in the Americas, Africa and Asia (as a result of demand in Europe for among other commodities, sugar), influencing the ethnic mixture of numerous nations around the globe. Sugar also led to some industrialization of areas where sugar cane
18471-401: Was 1.8 million tonnes , led by China with 26% of the world total (table). Other major producers were Turkey , Iran , Argentina , and Ukraine . Over its history as a food, the main uses of honey are in cooking, baking, desserts, as a spread on bread, as an addition to various beverages such as tea, and as a sweetener in some commercial beverages. Due to its energy density, honey
18612-427: Was 186 Mt, and in 2023/4 an estimated 194 Mt - a surplus of 5 Mt, according to Ragus . Sugar cane accounted for around 21% of the global crop production over the 2000–2021 period. The Americas was the leading region in the production of sugar cane (52% of the world total). Global production of sugarcane in 2020 was 1.9 billion tonnes, with Brazil producing 40% of the world total and India 20% (table). Sugarcane
18753-480: Was a German invention, since, in 1747, Andreas Sigismund Marggraf announced the discovery of sugar in beets and devised a method using alcohol to extract it. Marggraf's student, Franz Karl Achard , devised an economical industrial method to extract the sugar in its pure form in the late 18th century. Achard first produced beet sugar in 1783 in Kaulsdorf , and in 1801, the world's first beet sugar production facility
18894-515: Was another early manufacturer of sugar cubes at his refineries in Liverpool and London. Tate purchased a patent for sugar-cube manufacture from German Eugen Langen , who in 1872 had invented a different method of processing of sugar cubes. Sugar was rationed during World War I , though it was said that "No previous war in history has been fought so largely on sugar and so little on alcohol", and more sharply during World War II . Rationing led to
19035-595: Was established in Cunern , Silesia (then part of Prussia, now Poland ). The works of Marggraf and Achard were the starting point for the sugar industry in Europe, and for the modern sugar industry in general, since sugar was no longer a luxury product and a product almost only produced in warmer climates. Sugar became highly popular and by the 19th century, was found in every household. This evolution of taste and demand for sugar as an essential food ingredient resulted in major economic and social changes. Demand drove, in part,
19176-779: Was given a sugar crown to take away. In August 1492, Christopher Columbus collected sugar cane samples in La Gomera in the Canary Islands , and introduced it to the New World . The cuttings were planted and the first sugar-cane harvest in Hispaniola took place in 1501. Many sugar mills had been constructed in Cuba and Jamaica by the 1520s. The Portuguese took sugar cane to Brazil. By 1540, there were 800 cane-sugar mills in Santa Catarina Island and another 2,000 on
19317-797: Was grown. For example, in the 1790s Lieutenant J. Paterson, of the Bengal Presidency promoted to the British parliament the idea that sugar cane could grow in British India , where it had started, 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
19458-565: Was highest in the United States, followed by Germany and the Netherlands. Brown and white granulated sugar are 97% to nearly 100% carbohydrates, respectively, with less than 2% water, and no dietary fiber, protein or fat (table). Brown sugar contains a moderate amount of iron (15% of the Reference Daily Intake in a 100 gram amount, see table), but a typical serving of 4 grams (one teaspoon), would provide 15 calories and
19599-457: Was made by a German chemist, Georg Cohn, in 1914. He hypothesized that to evoke a certain taste, a molecule must contain some structural motif (called a sapophore ) that produces that taste. With regard to sweetness, he noted that molecules containing multiple hydroxyl groups and those containing chlorine atoms are often sweet, and that among a series of structurally similar compounds, those with smaller molecular weights were often sweeter than
19740-458: Was more usually sold in bags. Sugar cubes were produced in the nineteenth century. The first inventor of a process to produce sugar in cube form was Jakob Christof Rad , director of a sugar refinery in Dačice . In 1841, he produced the first sugar cube in the world. He began sugar-cube production after being granted a five-year patent for the process on 23 January 1843. Henry Tate of Tate & Lyle
19881-443: Was tasted or smelled. The development of organic chemistry in the 19th century introduced many new chemical compounds and the means to determine their molecular structures . Early organic chemists tasted many of their products, either intentionally (as a means of characterization) or accidentally (due to poor laboratory hygiene). One of the first attempts to draw systematic correlations between molecules' structures and their tastes
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