[Sca-cooks] food in season and how to cook it (was OLD thread)

[Elaine Koogler]

> > When did brown sugar come into use?
>
> The first European references to sugarcane are in the 4th Century BCE (IIRC)
> and refining sugar appears to have been developed in the Middle East by the
> 5th Century.  The Islamic expansion of the 7th and 8th Centuries spread it
> around the Mediterranean.
>
> Sugar was originally a medicine.  It became a spice and flavor enhancer and
> then a major ingredient.  Usage appears to increase with increasing European
> control of sugar producing area.
>

However, the brown sugar that we now use is made with molasses, isn't it?  And
therefore would not have been known in period?

Kiri