The Legacy of Sugar: 5 reasons why sugar rules

It was 326 BC. Alexander the Great and his elite troops just managed to reach India. They observed the Indians making a crystalline, salt like sweet substance from “honey bearing reeds” (sugar cane) which they called Sharkara (or Sharkaram) which was greekified to Saccharum. 

Despite being the diamond capital of the world at the time, India then immediately earned the credit for finding another sparkling gem of a thing which was more appealing to the masses, Sugar!

The word “Sharkara” in Sanskrit literally means “gravel”, hence it is thought that sugar made from these early production methods were raw and resembled gravels rather than the finer, clearer variety we get today.

Some of the reasons why sugar rocks the crown are:

1. Introduction to world food: Mothers mix baby food with sugar to make babies to eat their food (somehow) because to them sweetness is the only appealing taste they can put inside their mouths. Honey has a bad reputation for causing constipation hence it is not as popular in baby food as sugar.
2. Cheap: With only 66cents/pound, sugar is still the cheapest sweetener than most artificial ones. It is included as a rationed food commodity for low income groups in India.
3. Taste quality: Sugar, so far, signals the most clear sweet taste to the tongue. All artificial sweeteners have got some unpleasant after-taste, especially when tasted directly. Sugar also makes baked and fried foods crisp and hard which is preferable in some. Sugar is also a chief ingredient in glazing and icing of cakes and making cotton candies (yum!) Caramel has its own books to write too.
4. Not a commodity but an emotion: Since it has been in continuous use in sweets and candies for millennia, sugar is synonymous for joy, happiness and celebration. In the 14th century Europe, sugar was a much priced commodity there. So it was considered a symbol of royalty to have black, rotting and missing teeth! It supposedly showed that they could afford sugar and indulging on it, and rightly so! In the Victorian era, black teeth became a fashion statement and common people, who could not afford sugar, even painted their teeth black!
5. It is tasty: And it is yum! Enough said.

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