[Gatesedge] Anyone up for trivia regarding candy?

Mills, Scott Scott.Mills at compaq.com
Tue Jun 19 16:22:10 PDT 2001


Beet sugar is real sugar.  You have doubtless eaten it many time and if you
have lived much north of Texas you likely bought refined sugar in the
grocery store that came from sugar beets.

Approximately 40% of refined sugar comes from sugar beets and the pulp is an
important livestock food source.  Sugar cane is grown in tropical climates
while sugar beets are grown in more temperate climates.  Virtually all of
the sugar produced in Europe today is from sugar beets.

The use of various types of sugar cane to produce sugar is older than the
use of sugar beets.  Refined sugar from cane has been around for much longer
that you think, at least since 500 BC.  Beets have only been used for the
last several hundred years.  However, you are correct that it is the new
world that made sugar widely available.  The huge cane plantations of the
Caribbean, South and Central America allowed processed sugar (and Rum) to
move to the tables of the common man and it started happening in period
although late period for the SCA.

For a quick but not complete resource see
http://www.cup.org/Books/kiple/sugar.htm

Regards,

Eadric

-----Original Message-----
From: Peer2 [mailto:Peer2 at email.msn.com]
Hmmm...

Seems like I've heard of different stuff. Candied fruit peels and the like.
I do know that they used the pulp and juice of sugar beets, since real sugar
wasn't around until they found sugar cane in the New World.

-- Cedric.




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