Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Science

A brief history of sugar

A few thousand years ago, sugar was unknown in the western world. Sugarcane, a tall grass first domesticated in New Guinea around 6000BC, was initially chewed for its sweet juice rather than crystallized. By around 500BC, methods to boil sugarcane juice into crystals were first developed in India.

A brief history of sugar
Image: Phys.org
A few thousand years ago, sugar was unknown in the western world. Sugarcane, a tall grass first domesticated in New Guinea around 6000BC, was initially chewed for its sweet juice rather than crystallized. By around 500BC, methods to boil sugarcane juice into crystals were first developed in India.

Originally published at Phys.org

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