Commercial sugar (sucrose) is manufactured worldwide from either sugarcane or sugar beets. There are seven main phases in the history of sugar and sweeteners: (1) 8000 BC to 0 AD: The extraction of juice from the sugarcane plant and domestication of sugarcane in Tropical Southeast Asia. (2) Early centuries AD: invention of making sugar crystals from sugarcane juice in India; improvements in sugar processing to make it more pure. (3) 700 to 1500 AD: The spread of cultivation and manufacture of sugarcane sugar to the medieval Islamic world as well as improvements in production methods. (4) 16th to 19th centuries: Sugar cultivation and manufacture in the New World. (5) 19 century: Production of sugar from sugar beets precipitated by the Napoleonic wars, and the introduction of mechanization and modern processing technology. (6) Late 20th century: High fructose corn syrup introduced. (7) 21st century: new natural sweeteners and other uses for sugar. All these phases will be discussed.

History of sugar and sweeteners

255th National Meeting (2018)

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