SC - Re:coffee, tea or sugar

[Decker, Terry D.]

>----------
>From: 	Dan Stratton[SMTP:agincort at raex.com]
>G'day Cooks,
>The coffee and Tea discussion is fascinating. Do you know about the Arabic
>'connection' for sugar? I have been given to understand that sugar was
>imported
>from the Middle East in Period, with the origins somewhere in the Far East,
>and
>the 'American/colonial/sugar cane industry' only appearing late to post
>period. I
>did find one comment on a Recycling poster to the effect that the first sugar
>cane
>factory in the Americas dates back to 1509. No docs, of course.

European sugar originates in the Indus Valley, where it was found by
Alexander the Great's armies.  It may have been transplanted to
Mesapotamia at this time.

Between 600 and 700 CE, the Islamic expansion found sugar in India and
brought it west.  Sugar was grown in Egypt, Cyprus, Sicily and Spain.
Europeans came into contact with sugar during the Crusades and became
proprietors of sugar plantations as they took back lands.  The Spanish
and Portuguese brought sugar cane to the Cape Verde Islands, the Azores
and the New World (arriving on Columbus' second voyage).

I'd check Stefan's Florelegium for more information.

Bear
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================