SC - Sugar Stuff! Was: Cane Honey??

[Elise Fleming]

I wrote:

>Could the reference to "cane honey" be the incomplete curing of a 
>sugar loaf?  Sugar loaves sometimes were incompletely cured, leaving a 
>liquid residue in the middle.  

And Stefan replied:

>Perhaps I just need to go look up how sugar was/is made, but what is
>this curing of the sugar loaf. Isn't this just the evaporation of the
>water left in the sugar? If so, wouldn't this liquid then be the same
>as solution of sugar and water? If so, I would expect the medieval 
>cook to make his own from sugar and water rather than hunt around for 
>an incompletely cured sugar loaf, even if he had several.

Here is a lot of information, including a reference to molasses,  
"powdered sugar", and liquid sugar.

I just re-found some photocopies of a book on the history of sugar 
(title isn't on the pages, silly me!).  It describes, however, the 
making of sugar.  One part says (p. 59, "Methods of Refining") "The 
refuse of the cane was used to produce a poor syrup, and Ibn el Awam 
says that the surplus juices were sometimes given to horses."

Here's another paragraph (p. 61):  "Sugar was sometimes purchased as a 
liquid, 'mel de calamele' or 'mel sucre' as it was called; sometimes in 
treated form, perfumed with rosewater or with essence of violets -- 
'sucre roset' in France, 'zuchero rosato' or 'violato' in Italy."

Another section describes the refining process and another to the 
different types of sugar produced.  "Many of these are described by 
Pegalotti, a travelling agent of a Florentine banking form, who wrote 
his observations in the fourteenth century.  The finest quality of loaf 
sugar produced at the time was one reserved almost entirely for the use 
of the Sultan of Egypt, so that very little found its way into the 
ordinary market.  'Mucchera' sugar, as it was called, was 
double-refined, and was manufactured in small pyramid-shaped loaves 
weighing about a pound.  It was similar in appearance to the slighly 
less refined 'Bambillonia' or 'Cairene' sugar which was more easily 
obtainable.  Pegalotti speaks next of the 'Caffetino' sugar, of which 
there were two grades; one resembling the 'Bambillonia', the other made 
in larger cones, rounded at the top, and often imperfectly cured in the 
centre.  'Muscovado' or 'Musciatta' sugar, made in large loaves of up 
to seven pounds, and likewise rounded at the top, was popular among 
dealers, as it was easily broken into saleable quantities.  
'Damaschino', sometimes flat and sometimes pointed, is described as the 
least valuable of the loaf sugars, probably on account of the smallness 
of its loaves and the wastage that would result from its crumbling."

" 'Sugar Crystal' was also to be obtained, the finest coming from 
Cyprus and others of varying sized graines from Rhodes, Syria an 
dAlexandria.  The crystal, or, as it was sometimes called, THE POWDERED 
SUGAR (emphasis is Alys's), was made from disintegrated loaves, and was 
often used to fill the spaces in the chests into which the loaves were 
packed for transport.  Candy and molasses were also on the market, and 
syrups were exported from Alexandria in glass jars."

There apparantly are many references to sugar and its purchase in 
documents of the time.  We tend to look just in cookery books, but the 
records of journeys, the household accounts, etc., give a wider view.  
Whichever book on sugar this is, it is probably titled "The History of 
Sugar".  I did a research paper to prove or disprove the existence of 
"powdered sugar" in the Middle Ages/Renaissance.  As you can see, I 
found it, but not in the form I expected.  Modern powered sugar is much 
more finely ground than one can do with mortar and pestle, but a finely 
ground sugar can be obtained with a little muscle power.

Alys Katharine
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