SC - Sugar Stuff! Was: Cane Honey??

[Woeller D]

Thanks for the historical references, they are extremely useful. Sorry
for my ignorance, but I am not certain what time period the quoted
authors inhabited.  Any idea?
Merci
Angelique
Elise Fleming wrote:
> 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. 
> Alys Katharine
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