[Sca-cooks] pre-1601 sugar processing
Carper, Rachel
rachel.carper at hp.com
Wed May 5 17:13:29 PDT 2004
Jadwiga,
When I asked about sugar cane for Olwen's AoA scroll here are the
answers I got. Hope it helps you as much as it did me.
Was written:
> Elewyiss asked:
> > Howdy everybody. As I plan Olwen's AoA scroll I need a little
> > information. Is sugar cane period?
Regarding Sugar both the "Tacuinum Sanitatis" and "Tacuinum Sanitatis in
Medicina" illustrate sugar as refined in the first and as both refined
and growing cane in the first and the second.
Spenser, J. (translator) 1983, The Four Seasons of the House of
Cerruti, (Tacuinum Sanitatis in Medicina), Facts on File Publications
NY, NY
Luisa Cogliati Arano, 1976, The Medieval Health Handbook ("Tacuinum
Sanitatis") George Braziller Inc. NY, NY
Daniel
Sugar cane is period in that its existence was known from the beginning
of
the Middle Ages onwards (it may be mentioned in Pliny - there is debate
whether he isn't describing another type of reed - and was certainly
described by a source close to Alexander's campaign, most likely
Nearchus.
Herodotus is usually credited with the firtst mention of sugar in
European
culture. By the 2nd century AD, 'saccharum/sakkharon' was a familiar
substance to doctors, listed by Galen and Discurides.
However, in spite ofsome claims to the contrary I know of no evidence
forsugar cane in the Byzantine territories prior to their loss to the
Islamic world. Sugar cane was probably grown in Persia (Euphrates/Tigris
delta) as early as the 6th/7th century AD, and made it to Egypt prior to
1000. The Crusaders encountered sugar cane in the Levant and Syria, and
by
the 12th century the Kitab al-Felah from al-Andalus lists it as a
familiar
cash crop. Presumably it would also have been found in Sicily. By the
14th
century it was becoming a staple cash crop in Sicily and the southern
Iberian peninsula, the Balearics, and parts of the Middle East (North
Africa, too, most likely, though I have found no mention of it outside
Egypt), and by the 15th century had been transplanted to the Cape Verde
Island and Canaries. The the New World encountered it within Columbus'
lifetime (Portuguese-style island plantations were an early business
model
for the Conquistadors).
However, sugarcane does not grow very far north (Spain and central Italy
is
about the limit), so most medieval Europeans (as opposed to most
medieval
North Africans or Syrians) would not know sugarcane, just possibly know
about it (and considering how many Brits were prepared to believe in the
spaghetti harvest in the 60s, I wonderhow many would). Sugar processing
was
usually done on the spot as the cane deteriorates rapidly after
harvesting.
Does that help?
Giano
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