A Universal Treat?
Studies with infants have led researchers to conclude that humans have an inherent fondness for sugar. A study on sucrose intolerant people in Alaska shows that these people would rather suffer dire health consequences then stop eating it. The preference for sweet food may be an adaptation by ancestral populations, which favored ripe and sweet fruit. In nature, sweetness indicates a high level of edibility. The preference for sugar is not just human. Essentially all mammals enjoy and seek out sweet foods.
What is sugar?
Sugar is an organic chemical of the carbohydrate family, made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are many varieties of sugar, but we are concentrating today on sucrose. Sugar is found in all grasses, in some roots, and in the sap of trees. It is the result of photosynthesis. Sugar is also a fundamental feature of life's chemical architecture. In a sense, we are made of sugar!
Physical Limits in Sugar Production
- Tropical and subtropical regions only.
- Lots of irrigation required.
- A long cycle: the harvest can exceed 12 months.
- A labor intense crop.
See: http://ww.mefeedia.com/entry/sugarcane-factory-in-india/11133774
http://www.scgc.org/xsteps.html
Sugar beets.
The Cultivation of Sugar
Sucrose is produced from sugar cane or sugar beets, and it is thought that sugar cane appeared first in New Guinea. Sugar preparation is not really manufacturing, but it does involve more than the squeezing of liquids, and their eventual crystallization. There is no reference to sugar prior to the Christian era in Europe, although Indian literature uses it in recipes as early as 400 B.C. Romans probably got to know sugar from the Indians. Sugar really took off between 600 to 700 AD, when the Arabs spread sugar cultivation all over the Mediterranean and into Spain, thus supplying Africa and the middle east with the product. After the Crusades of the XI century, the Arab's sugar operations were taken over by Christians, who divided its production and its marketing. A decline in production ensued.
Cultivation of Sugar 2
The Spanish and Portuguese expansions into the Atlantic soon led to the planting of sugar in the Islands and in the New World. By the end of the 16th century, many sugar plantations were established, on Atlantic islands like Sao Tome, the Madeira's, La Palma, the Azores, and the Canaries. Slavery proved crucial to sugar production during this time. The Portuguese, to alleviate the labor shortage, invaded several African areas to acquire man power. The Spanish system, for its part, mixed slavery and wage labor. From the 16th to the 17th century, sugar stopped being a special or medicinal spice. Sugar remained a deluxe and popular product.
St. Croix Sugar Factories of the Past
The British Mode
1591 Quote: "English booty in West India produce is so great that sugar is cheaper in London then it is in Lisbon or the Indies themselves."
Sugar production and acquisition went from base piracy to an organized system thanks to the British. The British found a good settlement in Barbados, and quickly developed a taste for the sweet stuff. Internal sugar consumption in England ten fold from 1160 to 1753, as the English developed processing technologies. The English also began plying convenient "routes" in the sugar production cycle. The finished good went to Africa, captured slaves went to the Americas, and tropical commodities like sugar were sent to the mother land. The word "Barbadoes" function as a verb in XVII England, and was used to indicate a petty criminal with no protection, or someone unworthy of being taken into the machine of justice.
Constance Through Changes
The year 1807 ended the slave trade in the colonies, and the time between 1834 to 1838 saw a total end to slavery in the British empire. Indentured labor (not much of an improvement) became "free" labor. Further, the key ownership of means of sugar production remained unchallenged. Consumption of sugar did not diminish, but colonial production of sugar cane did. Beet sugar was progressively introduced from 1800 on.
The XIX Century
By 1800, British sugar consumption had increased 2500% in 150 years. By 1800, probably 245,000 tons of sugar reached the world market, and almost all of it consumed in Europe. By 1830, this was 572,000 tons of sugar, and by 1860 it was 1,373,000 tons of sugar (including beets). By 1890 it was 6,000,000 tons, and by World War One had reached 16,000,000 tons of sugar hitting the world market.
Sugar cane truck in Barbados.
The XX Century
From 1900 to 1970, world sugar production increased 500%. By 1970, 21 to 51 grams of sugar were available per capita per day, and 9% of available calories were produced bysucrose. Sugar consumption not only increased but functioned as substitution. Sucrose was swapped for starches.
Boring Diets in Northern Europe
The classic Northern European diet featured mostly wheat, grains, and legumes, with rare incidences of wild birds and fish. There was little dairy, and almost no fruit for the working class. Spices arrived to introduce some welcome savory flavor into what had been essential and repetitive diets, with bread as a staple food.
Sugar Consumption in England
Sugar was very little known prior to the end of XVII century. It was introduced in Europe around 1100 AD during the Crusades, and slowly spread North. Sugar was first used as a precious spice and medicine, and was often considered to be rare, tropical, and exotic. By the XVI century, sugar was no longer viewed as a spice, and was often combined with almond paste (introduced in 1200,) rice, scented waters, and gums. Sugar became increasingly to be viewed as a luxurious decoration for powerful people. By the XIX century, sugar was widely regarded as a decorative and high-status commodity.
Sugar cane growth.
Sugar as Gold
The intrinsic luxury of sugar was emphasized by elaborate creations made out of sugar, which graced the tables of the rich. These ornate statues were often allusive of power and strength: they often portrayed temples, castles, and armies. As sugar's role in the world economy expanded, its symbolism as an indicator of power began to decline.
Sugar as Medicine
Both Galen and Hippocrates discuss sugar. In 1000, in Italian Bysanthium, a Greek recorded sugar as a medicine. For Thomas Aquinas, sugar functioned as a medicine and did not "break the fast". Paracelsus, for his part, considered sugar as an ingredient incapable pharmacists used to make up useless medicinal combinations. Still, until the XVII century, the saying "Like an apothekary without sugar" indicated that something was useless. Sugar turned into a mere preservative and sweetener from the XVII to XVII century on, from the standpoint of popular opinion.
Sugar and the Poor
From the XVII century, poor people began to consume tea more then beer, which was their prior staple. Sugar became a sweetener for the poor from 1750 to 1850, as everyone in England knew about it. Sugar still did not yet function as a large caloric source. Key changes in the second half of the XIX century saw a big drop in sugar prices, a rise in use, and sugar's entrance into almost all foods, thus providing a big increase in protein. By 1900, sugar comprised 1/6 of an individual's caloric intake in England.
Sugar and the Poor III
The English pattern of sugar consumption has been repeated, with some time differences, in other locations. The USA's pattern of sugar conumption resembled that of the English , due to the State's access to tropical areas. By 1880, the USA was ahead of all sugar consumers except for the UK. All over the world, sugar has filled the caloric gaps in the diet of the laboring poor.
Sugar Daddy!
Sugar and the Poor - III
Sugar was a crucial factor of fortune in England, and was behind appeal and power-connections.
This was because of:
-The decrease in sugar costs (second half of 18th century).
-Sugar's combination with tea as sweetener.
-Sugar as a supplement to a meager and boring diet (not as popular in France, which as a nation knew how to cook!.)
-More people are able to do wage work if they have more time on their hands. Women began to spend more time working in manufacturing, and spent less time on family subsistence, leading to a rise in pre-cooked food consumption.
- Sugar was often used in combination with bread, producing high quantities of calories for little money and little time.
Epitomization of the Capitalist Process (via Sugar.)
- The use of labor (even unfree) on a world scale in the name of profit growth.
- The separation between production, and value added processing.
- A growth in production and in market coverage, with an eye toward the increase of profit.
- Controlled worldwide prices.
- The transformation of society from functional to profit-driven - wage seeking proletariat's consume more sugar.
- The commodification of food.
Uses in Processed Food
Sugar is used not only as a sweetener but also for purposes of preservation and softening. It is often used in soft drinks to make them more appealing. In the USA, per capita consumption of sugar in 1990 was around 100 pounds a year. If sugars such as high fructose corn syrup (other then sucrose) are considered, US consumption of sugar comes to around 130 pounds a person per year.
Low Input, High Outcomes
"Sugar cane and sugar beets produce larger quantities of utilizable calories per land unit in a given time then any other cultivated plant in their respective climate zones."
Per hectare, (2.47) acres, sugar cane yields 20 tons of raw, dry material (around half used to make sugar food/feed, and half as bagasse for fuel, paper products, building materials, and furfuraldehyede for nylon production.)
Out of 1 Hectare, 50 Tons of Millable Materials
- 5.6 tons of high grade raw sugar (if 40KG per capita per year), can be enough for about 140 people, providing 420KC per person per day. This can provide about 14% of a person's total daily caloric intake.
- 13.3 tons of wet sugar canematerials can produce 2.4 tons of fuel oil, 2 tons of bleached paper pulp, and 20 million calories (8 million an acre). If sugar was substituted for potatoes, it would be 4 times the extension, 9 to 12 of wheat, and 135 times for beef consumption.
When the calorie gap began to be stressed as the world began to modernize and population soared, sugar cane provided a cheap solution.
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