Tag: sugarcane
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Sugarcane and Slavery
Boy is this ever a topic I'd rather avoid! However there is no denying the historic link between sugarcane production. We were tracing the spread of sugarcane and the sugar industry from the Old World to the new. But slave labor used to harvest and process sugarcane began long before sugarcane was brought to the…
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The Spread of Sugarcane in the New World
When we last left off looking at sugarcane's spread from India/Indonesia to the rest of the world, the sugar industry had shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic islands of Spain and Portugal, including Madeira and the Canary islands. During this time, the powers in Europe were developing a taste for sugar. Sugar was only…
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The Spread of Sugarcane in the Old World
In the last post we looked at what sugarcane is. Now we'll see where it came from and how it traveled around the world. Sugarcane is a tall grass native to the region of the India and Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated in New Guinea, perhaps independently in Indonesia. In 325 BC Alexander…
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Sugar Spirit: What is Sugarcane?
In the Sugar Spirit project, we're going to look at sugar's history and production, but first we should establish what sugar and sugarcane are. Sugar and Sucrose When we talk about sugar, we mean table sugar, or sucrose. To chemists, sugar refers to a class of 'edible crystalline carbohydrates' that also includes fructose and lactose.…
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Announcing the Sugar Spirit Project
Today marks the launch of the second Sponsored Project on Alcademics: The Sugar Spirit. The Sugar Spirit Project is sponsored by Bacardi Rum. Rum is made from any sugarcane derivative and is the real sugar spirit, but in this research project I'll primarily be studying sugar itself. In writing about cocktails, we often come across recipes…