[Sca-cooks] sugar substitutes, may be off topic

[Terry Decker]

>Would Brown Rice Syrup be period?  I know that Corn Syrup isn't as it is
>(I think I am right here....) a New World Food.

I've never come across either corn or brown rice syrup in relation to period
cookery.  I suspect the processing techniques were developed in the 19th
Century after the extraction of sugar from carrots and beets (Marggraf,
1747).

>For that matter would
>the Sugar used back in period be closer to Turbinado Sugar (or for those
>who like commercial names "Sugar in the Raw").  I mean they didn't
>bleach it like they do now did they?

You don't need to bleach cane sugar to get it white.  You can do it by a lot
of cooking and filtering.  White sugar was available by the 5th Century and
that can be used to make a clear simple syrup.

>Same question with rice as well?
>How about fruits to sweeten things?  Did they have the ability to either
>extract the sugar from Fruit (Thus Fructose) or did they just use the
>fruit or juices if they used it at all?
>I mean the one sweeting fruit that I know is Pineapple but I can't tell
>you if it is period or not... I have always assumed NOT but have never
>researched it.
>Any thoughts?
>Nichola

Extracting sugar from anything other than cane is an involved process.  Why
waste the time when fruit and fruit juices are perfectly fine without all
the effort.

Pineapple arrives in Europe in the 16th Century, but wasn't readily
available.

Bear