[Sca-cooks] date sugar

[Terry Decker]

Date sugar is finely chopped dates.  I have seen no mention of it's use in 
period.  While it can be used as a sweetner, it doesn't dissolve and 
reconstitute the way cane sugar does, making it a poor choice for baking and 
making dishes of smooth texture.  Even if date sugar was used in period, 
cane sugar would be considered the superior product.

Jaggery is unrefined sugar made from cane juice or palm sap.  The word is of 
Dravidian origin entering European languages through Portuguese (the first 
English use I have recorded is Hakluyt in 1598).  In the Mediterranean basin 
and Near East, it was primarily produced from cane.  These two facts suggest 
that the production of sugar from palm sap probably began on the Indian 
sub-continent and the product was transferred to Europe by the Portuguese. 
AFAIK, jaggery can not be identified as to source without chemical analysis. 
While I have encountered period descriptions of sugar being produced from 
cane, I have yet to encounter one describing sugar production from palm sap 
(although Hakluyt might be a good place to look).

Bear

----- Original Message ----- 

>I made the (probably wrong) statement on the Lochac list that period  sugar 
>was cane sugar, meaning not beet sugar. This is the thread that  resulted:
> <<< You forget date sugar for us more easterly types.
>>
>> You mean the Easterly types who use sukkar, derived from cane?
>>
>> Date sugar is a modern name for finely chopped and partially dried 
>> dates.
>> It's not sugar, nor used as such in period.
>>
>> Giles
>
> Actually I meant jaggery/ jaggeree/ gura.  I know I can easily be  wrong, 
> but
> I thought that the use of the sap of the palm to produce this (not the
> chopped dates) was period.
>
> Hrolf >>>
>
> I seem to remember some discussion here about date sugar, but I don't 
> remember the details nor have much in the Florilegium, other than two 
> files that list it as an ingredient.
>
> So what exactly is "date sugar" and was it used in period? And if so,  how 
> widely was it used?
>
> Thanks,
>    Stefan