On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1225

fedtheexiledIsraeliteswithmanna,which
isdescribedas“likecorianderseed,white;
and the taste of it was like wafers made
with honey.” Today this term is used for
thesugar-richsecretionofcertaintreesand
alsocertaininsects.IntheMiddleEast,the
tamarisk tree produces enough manna that
Bedouin nomads can collect several
pounds in a morning, and go on to make
halvah with it. The sugar alcoholmannitol
(p. 662) owes its name to the fact that it
was first found in and extracted from
manna.
Sugar:BeginningsinAsia

Europebarelyknewwhatwenowconsider
ordinarytablesugaruntilaround1100,andit
wasaluxuryuntil1700.Ourfirstmajor
sourceofsucrosewasthesugarcane,
Saccharumofficinarum,a20-foot-tall
memberofthegrassfamilywithanunusually


highsucrosecontent—about15%—inits
fluids.SugarcaneoriginatedinNewGuinea
intheSouthPacificandwascarriedby
prehistorichumanmigrationintoAsia.
Sometimebefore500BCE,peopleinIndia
developedthetechnologyofmaking
unrefined,“raw”sugarbypressingoutthe
canejuiceandboilingitdownintoadark

massofsyrup-coatedcrystals.By350BCE,
Indiancookswerecombiningthisdarkgur
withwheat,barley,andricefloursandwith
sesameseedstomakeavarietyofshaped
confections,someofthemfried.Acoupleof
centurieslater,Indianmedicaltexts
distinguishedamonganumberofdifferent
syrupsandsugarsfromcane,including
crystalsfromwhichthedarkcoatinghadbeen
washed.Thesewerethefirstrefinedwhite
sugars.
EarlyConfectioneryinSouthwestAsia