sugar

1. A sweet crystalline or powdered substance, white when pure, consisting of sucrose obtained mainly from sugar cane and sugar beets and used in many foods, drinks, and medicines to improve their taste. Also called table sugar.
2. Any of a class of water-soluble crystalline carbohydrates, including sucrose and lactose, having a characteristically sweet taste and classified as monosaccharides, disaccharides, and trisaccharides.
3. A unit, such as a lump or cube, in which sugar is dispensed or taken.
4. Slang. Sweetheart. Used as a term of endearment.

1. To coat, cover, or sweeten with sugar.
2. To make less distasteful or more appealing.

1. To form sugar.
2. To form granules; granulate.
3. To make sugar or syrup from sugar maple sap. Often used with off.

[Middle English sugre, from Old French sukere, from Medieval Latin succārum, from Old Italian zucchero, from Arabic sukkar, from Persian shakar, from Sanskrit śarkarā, grit, ground sugar.]

Any of a group of water-soluble carbohydrates of relatively low molecular weight and typically having a sweet taste. The simple sugars are called monosaccharides. More complex sugars comprise between two and ten monosaccharides linked together: disaccharides contain two, trisaccharides three, and so on. The name is often used to refer specifically to sucrose (table sugar).

For more information on sugar, visit Britannica.com.

Background

Before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, sugarcane (from which sugar is made) was harvested on the shores of the Bay of Bengal; it spread to the surrounding territories of Malaysia, Indonesia, Indochina, and southern China. The Arabic people introduced "sugar" (at that point a sticky paste, semi-crystallized and believed to have medicinal value) to the Western world by bringing both the reed and knowledge for its cultivation to Sicily and then Spain in the eighth and ninth centuries. Later, Venice—importing finished sugar from Alexandria—succeeded in establishing a monopoly over this new spice by the fifteenth century; at that point, it started buying raw sugar, and even sugarcane, and treating it in its own refineries. Venice's monopoly, however, was short-lived. In 1498, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama returned from India bringing the sweet flavoring to Portugal. Lisbon started to import and refine raw sugar, and, in the sixteenth century, it became the European sugar capital. It was not long before the sweetener was available in France, where its primary function continued to be medicinal, and during the reign of Louis XIV, sugar could be bought by the ounce at the apothecary. By the 1800s, sugar (though still expensive) was widely available to both upper and middle classes.

Raw Materials

Sugar is a broad term applied to a large number of carbohydrates present in many plants and characterized by a more or less sweet taste. The primary sugar, glucose, is a product of photosynthesis and occurs in all green plants. In most plants, the sugars occur as a mixture that cannot readily be separated into the components. In the sap of some plants, the sugar mixtures are condensed into syrup. Juices of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) are rich in pure sucrose, although beet sugar is generally much less sweet than cane sugar. These two sugar crops are the main sources of commercial sucrose.

The sugarcane is a thick, tall, perennial grass that flourishes in tropical or subtropical regions. Sugar synthesized in the leaves is used as a source of energy for growth or is sent to the stalks for storage. It is the sweet sap in the stalks that is the source of sugar as we know it. The reed accumulates sugar to about 15 percent of its weight. Sugarcane yields about 2,600,000 tons of sugar per year.

The sugar beet is a beetroot variety with the highest sugar content, for which it is specifically cultivated. While typically white both inside and out, some beet varieties have black or yellow skins. About 3,700,000 tons of sugar are manufactured from sugar beet.

Other sugar crops include sweet sorghum, sugar maple, honey, and corn sugar. The types of sugar used today are white sugar (fully refined sugar), composed of clear, colorless or crystal fragments; or brown sugar, which is less fully refined and contains a greater amount of treacle residue, from which it obtains its color.

The Manufacturing
Process

Planting and harvesting

• Sugarcane requires an average temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.9 degrees Celsius) and uniform rainfall of about 80 inches (203 centimeters) per year. Therefore, it is grown in tropical or subtropical areas.

  Sugarcane takes about seven months to mature in a tropical area and about 12-22 months in a subtropical area. At this time, fields of sugarcane are tested for sucrose, and the most mature fields are harvested first. In Florida, Hawaii, and Texas, standing cane is fired to burn off the dry leaves. In Louisiana, the six- to ten-feet (1.8- to 3-meter) tall cane stalks are cut down and laid on the ground before burning.

• In the United States, harvesting (of both cane and sugar beet) is done primarily by machine, although in some states it is also done by hand. The harvested cane stalks are loaded mechanically into trucks or railroad cars and taken to mills for processing into raw sugar.

Preparation and processing

• After the cane arrives at the mill yards, it is mechanically unloaded, and excessive soil and rocks are removed. The cane is cleaned by flooding the carrier with warm water (in the case of sparse rock and trash clutter) or by spreading the cane on agitating conveyors that pass through strong jets of water and combing drums (to remove larger amounts of rocks, trash, and leaves, etc.). At this point, the cane is clean and ready to be milled.

  When the beets are delivered at the refinery, they are first washed and then cut into strips. Next, they are put into diffusion cells with water at about 175 degrees Fahrenheit (79.4 degrees Celsius) and sprayed with hot water countercurrently to remove the sucrose.

Juice extraction pressing

• Two or three heavily grooved crusher rollers break the cane and extract a large part of the juice, or swing-hammer type shredders (1,200 RPM) shred the cane without extracting the juice. Revolving knives cutting the stalks into chips are supplementary to the crushers. (In most countries, the shredder precedes the crusher.) A combination of two, or even all three, methods may be used. The pressing process involves crushing the stalks between the heavy and grooved metal rollers to separate the fiber (bagasse) from the juice that contains the sugar.
• As the cane is crushed, hot water (or a combination of hot water and recovered impure juice) is sprayed onto the crushed cane countercurrently as it leaves each mill for diluting. The extracted juice, called vesou, contains 95 percent or more of the sucrose present. The mass is then diffused, a process that involves finely cutting or shredding the stalks. Next, the sugar is separated from the cut stalks by dissolving it in hot water or hot juice.

Purification of juice—clarification
and evaporation

• The juice from the mills, a dark green color, is acid and turbid. The clarification (or defecation) process is designed to remove both soluble and insoluble impurities (such as sand, soil, and ground rock) that have not been removed by preliminary screening. The process employs lime and heat as the clarifying agents. Milk of lime (about one pound per ton of cane) neutralizes the natural acidity of the juice, forming insoluble lime salts. Heating the lime juice to boiling coagulates the albumin and some of the fats, waxes, and gums, and the precipitate formed entraps suspended solids as well as the minute particles.

  The sugar beet solution, on the other hand, is purified by precipitating calcium carbonate, calcium sulfite, or both in it repeatedly. Impurities become entangled in the growing crystals of precipitate and are removed by continuous filtration.

• The muds separate from the clear juice through sedimentation. The non-sugar impurities are removed by continuous filtration. The final clarified juice contains about 85 percent water and has the same composition as the raw extracted juice except for the removed impurities.
• To concentrate this clarified juice, about two-thirds of the water is removed through vacuum evaporation. Generally, four vacuum-boiling cells or bodies are arranged in series so that each succeeding body has a higher vacuum (and therefore boils at a lower temperature). The vapors from one body can thus boil the juice in the next one—the steam introduced into the first cell does what is called multiple-effect evaporation. The vapor from the last cell goes to a condenser. The syrup leaves the last body continuously with about 65 percent solids and 35 percent water.

  The sugar beet sucrose solution, at this point, is also nearly colorless, and it likewise undergoes multiple-effect vacuum evaporation. The syrup is seeded, cooled, and put in a centrifuge machine. The finished beet crystals are washed with water and dried.

Crystallization

• Crystallization is the next step in the manufacture of sugar. Crystallization takes place in a single-stage vacuum pan. The syrup is evaporated until saturated with sugar. As soon as the saturation point has been exceeded, small grains of sugar are added to the pan, or "strike." These small grains, called seed, serve as nuclei for the formation of sugar crystals. (Seed grain is formed by adding 56 ounces [1,600 grams] of white sugar into the bowl of a slurry machine and mixing with 3.3 parts of a liquid mixture: 70 percent methylated spirit and 30 percent glycerine. The machine runs at 200 RPM for 15 hours.) Additional syrup is added to the strike and evaporated so that the original crystals that were formed are allowed to grow in size.

  The growth of the crystals continues until the pan is full. When sucrose concentration reaches the desired level, the dense mixture of syrup and sugar crystals, called massecuite, is discharged into large containers known as crystallizers. Crystallization continues in the crystallizers as the massecuite is slowly stirred and cooled.

• Massecuite from the mixers is allowed to flow into centrifugals, where the thick syrup, or molasses, is separated from the raw sugar by centrifugal force.

Centrifugaling

• The high-speed centrifugal action used to separate the massecuite into raw sugar crystals and molasses is done in revolving machines called centrifugals. A centrifugal machine has a cylindrical basket suspended on a spindle, with perforated sides lined with wire cloth, inside which are metal sheets containing 400 to 600 perforations per square inch. The basket revolves at speeds from 1,000 to 1,800 RPM. The raw sugar is retained in the centrifuge basket because the perforated lining retains the sugar crystals. The mother liquor, or molasses, passes through the lining (due to the centrifugal force exerted). The final molasses (blackstrap molasses) containing sucrose, reducing sugars, organic nonsugars, ash, and water, is sent to large storage tanks.

  Once the sugar is centrifuged, it is "cut down" and sent to a granulator for drying. In some countries, sugarcane is processed in small factories without the use of centrifuges, and a dark-brown product (noncentrifugal sugar) is produced. Centrifugal sugar is produced in more than 60 countries while noncentrifugal sugar in about twenty countries.

Drying and packaging

• Damp sugar crystals are dried by being tumbled through heated air in a granulator. The dry sugar crystals are then sorted by size through vibrating screens and placed into storage bins. Sugar is then sent to be packed in the familiar packaging we see in grocery stores, in bulk packaging, or in liquid form for industrial use.

Byproducts

The bagasse produced after extracting the juice from sugar cane is used as fuel to generate steam in factories. Increasingly large amounts of bagasse are being made into paper, insulating board, and hardboard, as well as furfural, a chemical intermediate for the synthesis of furan and tetrahydrofuran.

The beet tops and extracted slices as well the molasses are used as feed for cattle. It has been shown that more feed for cattle and other such animals can be produced per acre-year from beets than from any other crop widely grown in the United States. The beet strips are also treated chemically to facilitate the extraction of commercial pectin.

The end product derived from sugar refining is blackstrap molasses. It is used in cattle feed as well as in the production of industrial alcohol, yeast, organic chemicals, and rum.

Quality Control

Mill sanitation is an important factor in quality control measures. Bacteriologists have shown that a small amount of sour bagasse can infect the whole stream of warm juice flowing over it. Modern mills have self-cleaning troughs with a slope designed in such a way that bagasse does not hold up but flows out with the juice stream. Strict measures are taken for insect and pest controls.

Because cane spoils relatively quickly, great steps have been taken to automate the methods of transportation and get the cane to the mills as quickly as possible. Maintaining the high quality of the end-product means storing brown and yellow refined sugars (which contain two percent to five percent moisture) in a cool and relatively moist atmosphere, so that they continue to retain their moisture and do not become hard.

Most granulated sugars comply with standards established by the National Food Processors Association and the pharmaceutical industry (U.S. Pharmacopeia, National Formulary).

Where To Learn More

Books

Clarke, M. A., ed. Chemistry & Processing of Sugarbeet & Sugarcane. Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., 1988.

Hugot, E. Handbook of Cane Sugar Engineering. 3rd ed. Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., 1986.

Lapedes, Daniel, ed. McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Food, Agriculture and Nutrition. McGraw Hill, 1977.

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Collier Books, 1984.

Meade, G. P. Cane Sugar Handbook: A Manual for Cane Sugar Manufacturers and Their Chemists. John Wiley and Sons, 1977.

Pennington, Neil L. and Charles Baker, eds. Sugar: A Users' Guide to Sucrose. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991.

Rost, Waverly. Food. Simon & Schuster, 1980.

Periodicals

"Sugar: Can We Make It On the Homestead?" Countryside & Small Stock Journal. May-June, 1987, p. 9.

Hayes, Joanne L. "Sugarloaf Lore," Country Living. March, 1989, p. 132.

"Squeezing All the Sweetness Out of Sugarcane—and More," Chemical & Engineering News. May 12, 1986, pp. 38-9.

[Article by: Eva Sideman]

Brown unrefined sugar, 96-98% pure, as imported for refining. Contaminated with mould spores, bacteria, cane fibre, and dirt.

Once a luxury only the extremely affluent could afford, sugar was called "white gold" because it was so scarce and expensive. Although Persia and ancient Arabia were cultivating sugar in the 4th century b.c., the Western World didn't know of it until the 8th century when the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula. Early sugar wasn't the granulated, alabaster substance most of us know today. Instead, it came in the form of large, solid loaves or blocks ranging in color from off-white to light brown. Chunks of this rock-hard substance had to be chiseled off and ground to a powder with a mortar and pestle. Modern-day sugar is no longer scarce or expensive and comes in myriad forms from many origins. Sugar cane and sugar beets are the sources of most of today's sugar, also known as sucrose (which also comes from maple sap-see maple sugar-and sorghum). Other common forms of sugar are dextrose (grape or corn sugar), fructose (levulose), lactose (milk sugar) and maltose (malt sugar). The uses for sugar are countless. Besides its sweetening value, sugar adds tenderness to doughs, stability to mixtures such as beaten egg whites for meringue, golden-brown surfaces to baked goods and, in sufficient quantity, it contributes to the preservation of some foods. Granulated or white sugar is highly refined cane or beet sugar. This free-flowing sweetener is the most common form both for table use and for cooking. Granulated sugar is also available in cubes or tablets of various sizes, as well as a variety of textures. Superfine sugar, known in Britain as castor (or caster) sugar, is more finely granulated. Because it dissolves almost instantly, superfine sugar is perfect for making meringues and sweetening cold liquids. It can be substituted for regular granulated sugar cup for cup. Confectioners' or powdered sugar is granulated sugar that has been crushed into a fine powder. To prevent clumping, a small amount (about 3 percent) of cornstarch is added. Confectioners' sugar labeled XXXX is slightly finer than that labeled XXX but they can be used interchangeably and both may need to be sifted before using. Because it dissolves so readily, confectioners' sugar is often used to make icings and candy. It's also used decoratively, as a fine dusting on desserts. One and three-quarters (packed) cups confectioners' sugar equals 1 cup granulated sugar. Confectioners' sugar is called icing sugar in Britain and sucre glace in France. Decorating or coarse sugar (also called sugar crystals or crystal sugar) has granules about four times larger than those of regular granulated sugar. It's used for decorating baked goods and can be found in cake-decorating supply shops and gourmet markets. rock candy is an even larger form of sugar crystals. Colored sugar, also used for decorating, is tinted granulated sugar and can be found in several crystal sizes. Flavored sugar is granulated sugar that's been combined or scented with various ingredients such as cinnamon or vanilla (see vanilla sugar). All granulated sugar can be stored indefinitely if tightly sealed and kept in a cool, dry place. Today's brown sugar is white sugar combined with molasses, which gives it a soft texture. The two most commonly marketed styles of brown sugar are light and dark, with some manufacturers providing variations in between. In general, the lighter the brown sugar, the more delicate the flavor. The very dark or "old-fashioned" style has a more intense molasses flavor. Brown sugar is usually sold in 1-pound boxes or plastic bags-the latter help the sugar retain its moisture and keep it soft. Hardened brown sugar can be resoftened by placing it with an apple wedge in a plastic bag and sealing tightly for 1 to 2 days. A firmly packed cup of brown sugar may be substituted for 1 cup granulated sugar. Both granulated and liquid brown sugar are also now available. Neither of these forms should be substituted for regular brown sugar in recipes. Though similar in color, brown sugar should not be confused with raw sugar, the residue left after sugarcane has been processed to remove the molasses and refine the sugar crystals. The flavor of raw sugar is akin to that of brown sugar. In this raw state, however, sugar may contain contaminants such as molds and fibers. The so-called raw sugar marketed in the United States has been purified, negating much of what is thought to be its superior nutritive value. Two popular types of raw sugar are the coarse-textured dry Demerara sugar from the Demerara area of Guyana, and the moist, fine-textured Barbados sugar. Turbinado sugar is raw sugar that has been steam-cleaned. The coarse turbinado crystals are blond colored and have a delicate molasses flavor. Other sources of sugar include maple sap, palm sap and sorghum. Almost 100 percent of sugar is carbohydrate. Granulated white sugar contains about 770 calories per cup, as does the same weight (which equals about 2 cups) of confectioners' sugar. A cup of brown sugar is slightly higher at 820 calories. It also contains 187 milligrams of calcium, 56 of phosphorous, 4.8 of iron, 757 of potassium and 97 of sodium, compared to only scant traces of those nutrients found in granulated sugar. artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin are essentially calorie-free and are used as a sugar substitute both commercially and by the home cook. Sugar also comes in syrup form, the most common being cane syrup, corn syrup, golden syrup, honey, maple syrup, molasses, sorghum and treacle. See also glucose; jaggery; pulled sugar; rock sugar; spun sugar.

verb

To make superficially more acceptable or appealing: candy, gild, honey, sugarcoat, sweeten. See like/dislike.

The expansion of European involvement in the sugar industry mirrored western Europe's expansion and domination of the Atlantic basin. Sugar, which had long been considered a luxury available only to the elites of medieval and renaissance Europe, was transformed into a household staple by the colonization of the New World. The combination of conquered tropical and subtropical lands, African slave labor, and capital advanced by northern European merchants transformed the European diet. Furthermore, sugar's importance to overseas trade is reflected in contemporary observations that proclaimed the sugar industry to be at the heart of national wealth; it was often noted that the plantation trade created enormous profits for sugar planters and merchants, employment for European laborers, and significant tax revenues for the mother countries. Although it is clear that sugar did indeed dominate colonial policy of the major powers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, economic historians have recently questioned the extent to which sugar generated national riches.

Muslims first introduced sugarcane to the Mediterranean region in the seventh century. While the soils of the Levant, Sicily, Cyprus, Crete, and Malta supported this early cane cultivation, the actual export of sugar to Continental markets did not take place until the Crusades, when Venetian merchants provided the capital and mercantile connections required for regular trade. The historian Noel Deerr has suggested that this coordination of European credit and trade "may be seen [as] the germ of the colonial system" that was fully developed in the Americas during the early modern period.

The center of the European sugar supply moved west with Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic basin. Iberian settlers on the island of Madeira established commercial sugar production in 1432, as well as on the African coastal island of São Tomé, where African slave labor was used exclusively to produce sugar in the early sixteenth century. During the next hundred years, Portuguese settlers in Brazil replicated this slave-based business plan after briefly experimenting with indigenous labor. With the assistance of Dutch financiers, the Portuguese planters and mill owners of northeastern Brazil developed the most productive sugar-producing region in the world. This symbiotic relationship between the two imperial powers helped generate the lion's share of sugar consumed in Europe, but in 1624 the Dutch gained tighter financial control over the industry by using military force, capturing the richest sugar-growing regions of Brazil. Although the Dutch were eventually expelled, the chaos inflicted by war disrupted Brazilian sugar production, thereby providing an opportunity for English and French West Indian sugar growers to emerge as important competitors in supplying Europe's increasing demand for sugar.

The leading sugar-producing nations expended tremendous resources protecting their colonists and their plantation trade. Laws similar to Britain's Navigation Acts or France's Colonial Pact were implemented by every colonial power as a means of ensuring that the benefits of imperialism would be maximized. Adherents to this political philosophy believed that the colonists' role in the larger economy was subordinate to the home country's drive for riches and power. Thus, each nation's set of mercantilist laws was designed to control colonial trade so that the commerce from the colonies would provide home governments with valuable tax revenues while stimulating each respective nation's merchant navy.

The major sugar-planting zones of Brazil and the Caribbean littoral had an enormous appetite for slave labor. The growing demand for sugar in Europe, combined with the negative natural population growth, fueled an unprecedented demand for labor. Throughout the early modern period, European planters expanded total production while simultaneously ignoring the poor nutrition, diseaseinfested living conditions, and excessive work endured by their slaves. The relatively low cost of importing new African slaves permitted planters to maintain healthy profits despite the regular loss of life. To illustrate the human cost of supplying the European craving for sugar, over half of the 5.7 million slaves transported to the Americas during the eighteenth century were destined to work in the cane fields or in related branches of the industry.

The sheer volume of the slave trade, the capital-intensive nature of sugar planting, and the contemporary assumptions about the importance of sugar colonies have led some modern historians to conclude that sugar and slavery were essential to the economic development of the metropole. Eric Williams, an Oxford-trained West Indian historian, did the most to promote this thesis in Capitalism and Slavery (1944). In this monumental work, Williams argued that the demand for sugar created a highly profitable colonial trade, which enabled slavers from Bristol and Liverpool to dominate the forced migration of Africans during the peak years of the slave trade. He posited that the slave trade generated an important stream of British capital accumulation, and that these funds, combined with the profits generated from the sugar industry, fueled Britain's industrial revolution.

Scholarship since Capitalism and Slavery has revised Williams's estimate that the slave trade produced 30 percent returns to investors. Although there were, indeed, examples of slave traders earning significant sums of money on individual voyages, the slaving business was a very risky and competitive lottery, with many investors losing money. If, therefore, one considers the whole range of returns on slave trading, the average is calculated to have been somewhere between 5 and 10 percent during the eighteenth century. With this more realistic view of slave-trading profits, the economic historian Stanley Engerman calculated that the net national return on the British slave trade represented less than 1 percent of total British income. This deflated view of the slave trade's importance to the British economy has been matched by more moderate assessments of the effect the total sugar industry had on the home country. The most recent research describes the colonial sugar industry as an important sector that contributed to the economic growth of the major sugar-growing nations, but was not essential to the industrial transformation of England or Europe.

Bibliography

Curtin, Philip D. The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex: Essays in Atlantic History. Cambridge, U.K., 1990.

Deerr, Noel. The History of Sugar. Vols. 1 and 2. London, 1949–1950.

Eltis, David, and Stanley L. Engerman. "The Importance of Slavery and the Slave Trade to Industrializing Britain." Journal of Economic History 60 (2000): 123–144.

Klein, Herbert S. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge, U.K., 1999.

Morgan, Kenneth. Slavery, Atlantic Trade, and the British Economy, 1660–1800. Cambridge, U.K., 2000.

Williams, Eric. Capitalism and Slavery. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1944.

—DAVID RYDEN

Carbohydrates that can supply energy to living things. Common table sugar is sucrose. Some other sugars are fructose, which is found in fruits; lactose, which is found in milk; and glucose, which is the most common sugar in the bodies of animals and plants.

A sweet carbohydrate of both animal and vegetable origin, the two principal groups of which are the disaccharides and the monosaccharides. Unless qualified, e.g. fruit sugar, milk sugar, usually refers to sucrose.

• s. beet — see beta vulgaris.
• s. beet pulp — see beet pulp.
• s. beet tops — see beta vulgaris.
• s. cane — as such is not fed but molasses and the pith, bagasse, are fed (Camola is a feed composed of 4 parts pith and 10 parts molasses). Sugar cane may contain sufficient cyanogenetic glycoside to cause poisoning if the appropriate enzyme is also supplied.
• s. fecal centrifugation — using Sheather's solution; standard procedure for examination of feces for parasite eggs.
• s. gum — eucalyptus cladoclyx.
• invert s. — a sugar obtained by hydrolyzing sucrose; a mixture of glucose and fructose. Called invert sugar because sucrose is dextrorotary—the mixture is levorotary. Used as a parenteral nutrient. Called also invertose.
• s. of lead — lead acetate, used in the preparation of white lotion. Occurs naturally on weathered paintwork and is attractive and poisonous to animals.
• s. of milk — see lactose.

Dreaming about sugar could reflect a sense that life is sweet or a wish that life could be sweeter. Sugar is also a symbol of love, as when some refers to their love interest as "Sugar." Sugar can also be slang for everything from a kiss to cocaine.

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sucrose. (Discuss)

For other uses, see Sugar (disambiguation).

For the common table sugar, see sucrose.

Magnification of grains of sugar, showing their monoclinic hemihedral crystalline structure.

Sugar, granulated

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 390 kcal   1620 kJ
Carbohydrates     99.98 g - Sugars  99.91 g - Dietary fiber  0 g   Fat 0 g Protein 0 g Water 0.03 g Riboflavin (Vit. B2)  0.019 mg   1% Calcium  1 mg 0% Iron  0.01 mg 0% Potassium  2 mg   0%
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient database

Sugars, brown

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 380 kcal   1580 kJ
Carbohydrates     97.33 g - Sugars  96.21 g - Dietary fiber  0 g   Fat 0 g Protein 0 g Water 1.77 g Thiamine (Vit. B1)  0.008 mg   1% Riboflavin (Vit. B2)  0.007 mg   0% Niacin (Vit. B3)  0.082 mg   1% Vitamin B6  0.026 mg 2% Folate (Vit. B9)  1 μg  0% Calcium  85 mg 9% Iron  1.91 mg 15% Magnesium  29 mg 8%  Phosphorus  22 mg 3% Potassium  346 mg   7% Sodium  39 mg 2% Zinc  0.18 mg 2%
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient database

Magnified crystals of refined sugar.

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple (in maple syrup), and in many other sources. It forms the main ingredient in candy. Excessive consumption of sugar has been associated with increased incidences of type 2 diabetes, obesity and tooth decay.^[1] Sugar consumption varies by country depending on the cultural traditions. Brazil has the highest per capita consumption and India has the highest per-country consumption.^[2]

Contents 1 Terminology 1.1 Popular 1.2 Scientific 1.3 Culinary/nutritional 2 Etymology 3 Culinary sugars 4 Chemistry 5 Measuring sugar 5.1 Baking weight/mass volume relationship 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Terminology

Popular

In non-scientific use, the term sugar refers to sucrose (also called "table sugar" or "saccharose") — a white crystalline solid disaccharide. In this informal sense, the word "sugar" principally refers to crystalline sugars.

Humans most commonly use sucrose as their sugar of choice for altering the flavor and properties (such as mouthfeel, preservation, and texture) of beverages and food. Commercially produced table sugar comes either from sugar cane or from sugar beet. Manufacturing and preparing food may involve other sugars, including palm sugar and fructose, generally obtained from corn (maize) or from fruit.

Sugar may dissolve in water to form a syrup. A great many foods exist which principally contain dissolved sugar. Generically known as "syrups", they may also have other more specific names such as "honey", molasses or treacle.

Scientific

Scientifically, sugar refers to any monosaccharide or disaccharide. Monosaccharides (also called "simple sugars"), such as glucose, store chemical energy which biological cells convert to other types of energy.

In a list of ingredients, any word that ends with "-ose" (such as "glucose", "dextrose", "fructose", etc.) will likely denote a sugar. Sometimes such words may also refer to any types of carbohydrates soluble in water.

Glucose (a type of sugar found in human blood plasma) has the molecular formula C₆ H₁₂ O₆.

Culinary/nutritional

In culinary terms, the foodstuff known as sugar delivers a primary taste sensation of sweetness. Apart from the many forms of sugar and of sugar-containing foodstuffs, alternative non-sugar-based sweeteners exist, and these particularly attract interest from people who have problems with their blood sugar level (such as diabetics) and people who wish to limit their calorie-intake while still enjoying sweet foods. Both natural and synthetic substitutes exist with no significant carbohydrate (and thus low-calorie) content: for instance stevia (a herb), and saccharin (produced from naturally occurring but not necessarily naturally edible substances by inducing appropriate chemical reactions).

ant feeding on sugar crystals

Etymology

In the case of sugar, the etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word "sugar" originates from the Arabic and Persian word shakar,^[3] itself derived from Sanskrit Sharkara.^[4] It came to English by way of French, Spanish and/or Italian, which derived their word for sugar from the Arabic and Persian shakar (whence the Portuguese word açúcar, the Spanish word azúcar, the Italian word zucchero, the Old French word zuchre and the contemporary French word sucre). (Compare the OED.) The Greek word for "sugar", zahari, means "pebble". Note that the English word jaggery (meaning "coarse brown Indian sugar") has similar ultimate etymological origins (presumably in Sanskrit).

Culinary sugars

Grainier, raw sugar.

The World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations expert report (WHO Technical Report Series 916 Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases)^{[citation needed]} defines free sugars as all monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices. This includes all the sugars referred to above. The term distinguishes these forms from all other culinary sugars added in their natural form with no refining at all.

Natural sugars comprise all completely unrefined sugars: effectively all sugars not defined as free sugars. The WHO Technical Report Series 916 Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases^{[citation needed]} approves only natural sugars as carbohydrates for unrestricted consumption. Natural sugars come in fruit, grains and vegetables in their natural or cooked form.

Chemistry

Sucrose: a disaccharide of glucose (left) and fructose (right), important molecules in the body.

Biochemists regard sugars as relatively simple carbohydrates. Sugars include monosaccharides, disaccharides, trisaccharides and the oligosaccharides - containing 1, 2, 3, and 4 or more monosaccharide units respectively. Sugars contain either aldehyde groups (-CHO) or ketone groups (C=O), where there are carbon-oxygen double bonds, making the sugars reactive. Most simple sugars (monosaccharides) conform to (CH₂O)_n where n is between 3 and 7. A notable exception, deoxyribose, as its name suggests, has a "missing" oxygen atom. All saccharides with more than one ring in their structure result from two or more monosaccharides joined by glycosidic bonds with the resultant loss of a molecule of water (H₂O) per bond. Sugars can also be used as monomers to create biopolymers such as cellulose, which is made of glucose, or DNA, which uses deoxyribose as a backbone.

As well as using classifications based on their reactive group, chemists may also subdivide sugars according to the number of carbons they contain. Derivatives of trioses (C₃H₆O₃) are intermediates in glycolysis. Pentoses (5-carbon sugars) include ribose and deoxyribose, which form part of nucleic acids. Ribose also forms a component of several chemicals that have importance in the metabolic process, including NADH and ATP. Hexoses (6-carbon sugars) include glucose, a universal substrate for the production of energy in the form of ATP. Through photosynthesis plants produce glucose, which has the formula C₆H₁₂O₆, and convert it for storage as an energy reserve in the form of other carbohydrates such as starch, or (as in cane and beet) as sucrose (table sugar). Sucrose has the chemical formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁.

Many pentoses and hexoses can form ring structures. In these closed-chain forms, the aldehyde or ketone group remains unfree, 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 the molecules in the open-chain form.

Monosaccharides in a closed-chain form can form glycosidic bonds with other monosaccharides, creating disaccharides (such as sucrose) and polysaccharides (such as starch). Enzymes must hydrolyse or otherwise break these glycosidic bonds before such compounds become metabolised. After digestion and absorption. the principal monosaccharides present in the blood and internal tissues include glucose, fructose, and galactose.

The prefix "glyco-" indicates the presence of a sugar in an otherwise non-carbohydrate substance. Note for example glycoproteins, proteins connected to one or more sugars.

Monosaccharides include fructose, glucose, galactose and mannose. Disaccharides occur most commonly as sucrose (cane or beet sugar - made from one glucose and one fructose), lactose (milk sugar - made from one glucose and one galactose) and maltose (made of two glucoses). These disaccharides have the formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁.

Hydrolysis can convert sucrose into a syrup of fructose and glucose, producing invert sugar. This resulting syrup, sweeter than the original sucrose,^[5] has uses in making confections because it does not crystallize as easily and thus produces a smoother finished product.

If combined with fine ash, sugar will burn with a blue flame.

Measuring sugar

See also International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis The purity (sucrose content) of table sugar by polarimetry — the measurement of the rotation of plane-polarized light by a solution of sugar.

Baking weight/mass volume relationship

Different culinary sugars have different densities due to differences in particle size and inclusion of moisture.

The Domino Sugar Company has established the following volume to weight conversions:

• Brown sugar 1 cup = 48 teaspoons ~ 195 g = 6.88 oz
• Granular sugar 1 cup = 48 teaspoons ~ 200 g = 7.06 oz
• Powdered sugar 1 cup = 48 teaspoons ~ 120 g = 4.23 oz

Bulk Density^[6]

• Dextrose Sugar 0.62 g/ml
• Granulated Sugar 0.70 g/ml
• Powdered Sugar 0.56 g/ml
• Beet Sugar 0.80 g/ml

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sugars

• Barley sugar
• Biobutanol
• Caramel
• Glycomics
• Golden syrup
• Holing cane
• List of unrefined sweeteners
• Sugar alcohol
• Sugar plantations in the Caribbean
• Sugar loaf
• Sugar substitute
• The Hawaiian Vibora Luviminda trades union
• Saccharophilic pathogen

Notes

1. ^ Wuebben, Joseph and Mike Carlson. "Sugar: What Kinds to Eat and When." http://men.webmd.com/features/sugar-what-kinds-eat-when
2. ^ International sugar statistics http://www.illovosugar.com/World_of_sugar/Sugar_Statistics/International.aspx
3. ^ Compare the OED and the Online Etymology Dictionary.
4. ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part III: Technology Transfer in the Chemical Industries, History of Science and Technology in Islam.
5. ^ scientificpsychic.com: link inaccessible as of 2008-06-04
6. ^ "Engineering Resources - Bulk Density Chart," Powder and Bulk

References

• Adas, Michael (January 2001). Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History. Temple University Press. ISBN 1566398320. OCLC 44493265. 
• James, Glyn (2004). Sugarcane. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 063205476X. OCLC 51837990 84251137. 
• A C Hannah, The International Sugar Trade, Cambridge: Woodhead, 1996. ISBN 1-85573-069-3
• William Dufty, Sugar Blues, ISBN 0-446-34312-9

External links

• Cook's Thesaurus: Sugar
• sugar at the Open Directory Project
• Density of Sugar Factory Products

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - sukker, penge, LSD
v. tr. - indsukre, søde, komme sukker i
v. intr. - lave sukker, gøre velsmagende

idioms:

• sugar beet    sukkerroe
• sugar bowl    sukkerskål
• sugar cane    sukkerrør
• sugar daddy    gammel gris; mand, der er efter unge piger
• sugar lump    sukkerknald
• sugar the pill    søde den bitre pille, få det ubehagelige til at glide ned
• sugared almond    brændt mandel, fransk mandel

Nederlands (Dutch)
suiker, suikeren, verzoeten

Français (French)
n. - (Culin) sucre, chéri
v. tr. - sucrer, enrober de sucre, rendre plus appétissant
v. intr. - former du sucre, granuler

idioms:

• sugar beet    betterave sucrière
• sugar bowl    sucrier
• sugar cane    canne à sucre
• sugar daddy    vieux protecteur (d'une jeune fille)
• sugar lump    morceau de sucre
• sugar the pill    dorer la pilule
• sugared almond    dragée

Deutsch (German)
n. - Zucker
v. - zuckern, versüßen

idioms:

• sugar beet    Zuckerrübe
• sugar bowl    Zuckerdose
• sugar cane    Zuckerrohr
• sugar daddy    Greis, der sich eine Liebhaberin hält
• sugar lump    Zuckerstück
• sugar the pill    die bittere Pille versüßen
• sugared almond    Zuckermandel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ζάχαρη, (χημ.) σάκχαρο, (μτφ.) γλύκα, γλυκόλογα, κολακείες, (αργκό) ηρωίνη ή ελ-ες-ντι
v. - γλυκαίνω, (μαγειρ.) ζαχαρώνω, γκλασάρω

idioms:

• sugar beet    (φυτολ.) ζαχαρότευτλο
• sugar bowl    ζαχαριέρα
• sugar cane    (φυτολ.) ζαχαροκάλαμο
• sugar daddy    (αργκό) πλούσιος ηλικιωμένος εραστής νεαρής γυναίκας
• sugar lump    κύβος ζάχαρης
• sugar the pill    ζαχαρώνω ή χρυσώνω το χάπι
• sugared almond    πραλίνα

Italiano (Italian)
zuccherare, zucchero

idioms:

• sugar beet    barbabietola da zucchero
• sugar bowl    zuccheriera
• sugar cane    canna da zucchero
• sugar daddy    protettore
• sugar lump    zolletta di zucchero
• sugared almond    confetto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - açúcar (m)
v. - açucarar

idioms:

• sugar beet    beterraba de açúcar
• sugar bowl    açucareiro
• sugar cane    cana de açúcar
• sugar daddy    velho rico folgazão
• sugar lump    cubo de açúcar
• sugared almond    amêndoa

Русский (Russian)
сахар, лесть, милочка, обсахаривать, подслащивать, выпаривать сахар, засахариваться

idioms:

• sugar beet    сахарная свекла
• sugar bowl    сахарница
• sugar cane    сахарный тростник
• sugar daddy    богатый, пожилой поклонник
• sugar lump    кусок сахара
• sugared almond    засахаренный миндаль

Español (Spanish)
n. - azúcar
v. tr. - azucarar, endulzar, confitar
v. intr. - cristalizarse, granularse, formar una capa de azúcar

idioms:

• sugar beet    remolacha azucarera
• sugar bowl    azucarero
• sugar cane    caña de azúcar
• sugar daddy    amante viejo y rico, amigo
• sugar lump    terrón de azúcar
• sugar the pill    endulzar/dorar la píldora
• sugared almond    almendras garapiñadas, almendras confitadas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - socker, sockerbit, smicker, sötnos, pengar (sl.)
v. - sockra, söta

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
糖, 甜言蜜语, 糖块, 加糖于, 粉饰, 使甜蜜, 制成糖

idioms:

• sugar beet    甜菜
• sugar bowl    糖罐
• sugar cane    甘蔗
• sugar daddy    老色迷
• sugar lump    方糖
• sugar the pill    把苦药裹上糖衣, 使苦事容易被接受
• sugared almond    加糖衣的杏仁

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 糖, 甜言蜜語, 糖塊
v. tr. - 加糖於, 粉飾, 使甜蜜
v. intr. - 製成糖

idioms:

• sugar beet    甜菜
• sugar bowl    糖罐
• sugar cane    甘蔗
• sugar daddy    老色迷
• sugar lump    方糖
• sugar the pill    把苦藥裹上糖衣, 使苦事容易被接受
• sugared almond    加糖衣的杏仁

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 설탕, 겉치레 말, 감언
v. tr. - 설탕을 치다, 비위 맞추다, 매수하다
v. intr. - 제기랄!, 빌어먹을

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 砂糖, 糖, あなた
v. - 砂糖をかける, 糖衣で包む, よく見せる

idioms:

• confectioners' sugar    精製糖, 粉砂糖
• granulated sugar    グラニュー糖
• sugar beet    テンサイ, 砂糖大根
• sugar bowl    砂糖壷
• sugar cane    砂糖きび, 砂糖大根
• sugar daddy    パトロンの男性
• sugar lump    角砂糖

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سكر (فعل) يحلي بالسكر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סוכר, מותק‬
v. tr. - ‮הוסיף סוכר, המתיק, ריכך את מילותיו‬
v. intr. - ‮ייצר סוכר או גבישי סוכר‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.