Editing Sugar (section)

==== Asia ====

Sugar has been produced in the [[Indian subcontinent]]<ref name="Moxham2002">{{cite book|author=Roy Moxham|title=The Great Hedge of India: The Search for the Living Barrier that Divided a People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVWItAEACAAJ|date=7 February 2002|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-7867-0976-2}}</ref> for thousands of years. Sugarcane cultivation spread from there into China via the [[Khyber Pass]] and caravan routes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=Stewart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_4AAwAAQBAJ |title=When Asia was the World |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2008 |page=12|isbn=978-0-306-81556-0 }}</ref> It was not plentiful or cheap in early times, and in most parts of the world, [[honey]] was more often used for sweetening.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Eteraf-Oskouei |first1=Tahereh |last2=Najafi |first2=Moslem |date=June 2013 |title=Traditional and Modern Uses of Natural Honey in Human Diseases: A Review |journal=  Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences|volume=16 |issue=6 |pages=731–742 |pmid=23997898 |pmc=3758027 }}</ref> Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness. Even after refined sugarcane became more widely available during the European colonial era,<ref>{{cite book | title=The Cambridge World History of Food | year=2000 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr2qnK_QOuAC&dq=palm+sugar+southeast+history&pg=PA1162 | page=1162 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=9780521402156 | access-date=19 March 2023 | archive-date=15 April 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415074233/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr2qnK_QOuAC&dq=palm+sugar+southeast+history&pg=PA1162 | url-status=live }}</ref> [[palm sugar]] was preferred in [[Java]] and other sugar producing parts of southeast Asia, and along with [[coconut sugar]], is still used locally to make desserts today.<ref>{{cite book |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor |year=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&dq=palm+sugar+southeast+history&pg=PA1257 |page=1257 |isbn=9781576077702 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505134019/https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&dq=palm+sugar+southeast+history&pg=PA1257 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Cooking Through History: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Food with Menus and Recipes |date=2 December 2020 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cUOEAAAQBAJ&dq=palm+sugar+southeast+history&pg=PA645 |page=645 |isbn=9781610694568 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415074233/https://books.google.com/books?id=_cUOEAAAQBAJ&dq=palm+sugar+southeast+history&pg=PA645 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sugarcane is native of tropical areas such as the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and Southeast Asia.<ref name="Moxham2002"/><ref name=Kiple/> Different species seem to have originated from different locations; ''[[Saccharum barberi]]'' originated in India, and ''[[Saccharum edule|S. edule]]'' and ''[[Saccharum officinarum|S. officinarum]]'' came from [[New Guinea]].<ref name=Kiple>{{cite book |url=http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/sugar.htm |title=World history of Food – Sugar |first=Kenneth F. |last=Kiple |author2=Kriemhild Conee Ornelas |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=9 January 2012 |archive-date=23 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123183317/http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/sugar.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Sharpe>{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnoleaflets.com//leaflets/sugar.htm |title=Sugar Cane: Past and Present |work=Illinois: Southern Illinois University |author=Sharpe, Peter |year=1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710203319/http://www.ethnoleaflets.com//leaflets/sugar.htm |archive-date=10 July 2011}}</ref> One of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating to the 8th century BCE, which state that the use of sugarcane originated in India.<ref name=gr1>{{cite book |title=Something about sugar: its history, growth, manufacture and distribution |first=George |last=Rolph |year=1873 |url=https://archive.org/details/somethingaboutsu00rolprich|location=San Francisco|publisher= J.J. Newbegin }}</ref>

In the tradition of Indian medicine ([[Ayurveda|āyurveda]]), sugarcane is known by the name ''Ikṣu'', and sugarcane juice is known as ''Phāṇita''. Its varieties, synonyms and characteristics are defined in [[Nighantu|nighaṇṭus]] such as the Bhāvaprakāśa (1.6.23, group of sugarcanes).<ref>{{Cite book | last = Murthy | first = K.R. Srikantha | title = Bhāvaprakāśa of Bhāvamiśra, Vol. I | publisher = Chowkhamba Krishnadas Academy, Varanasi | year = 2016 | isbn=978-81-218-0000-6 | pages = 490–494 | edition = reprint 2016 | series = Krishnadas Ayurveda Series 45}}</ref>
Sugar remained relatively unimportant until around 350 AD when the Indians discovered methods of turning [[sugarcane juice]] into granulated crystals that were easier to store and transport. It was then considered as 'sweet spice' and Indian traders started trading sugar outside India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Sugar - From Early Sugarcane Cultivation |url=https://www.sugarhistory.net/who-made-sugar/history-of-sugar/ |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=www.sugarhistory.net}}</ref> The Greek physician [[Pedanius Dioscorides]] attested to the method in his 1st century CE medical treatise ''[[De Materia Medica]]'': {{blockquote|There is a kind of coalesced honey called sakcharon [i.e. sugar] found in reeds in India and [[Arabia Felix|Eudaimon Arabia]] similar in consistency to salt and brittle enough to be broken between the teeth like salt,|author=Pedanius Dioscorides|title=Materia Medica|source=Book II<ref>Quoted from Book Two of Dioscorides' ''Materia Medica''. The book is downloadable from links at the Wikipedia [[Dioscorides]] page.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/de-materia-medica |title=de materia medica}}</ref>}}
In the local Indian language, these crystals were called ''khanda'' ([[Devanagari]]: खण्ड, {{IAST|Khaṇḍa}}), which is the source of the word ''candy''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sugarcane: Saccharum Officinarum |publisher=USAID, Govt of United States |year=2006 |page=7.1 |url=http://www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/environment/docs/ag&environ/Sugarcane.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106015828/http://www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/environment/docs/ag%26environ/Sugarcane.pdf |archive-date=6 November 2013 }}</ref> Indian sailors, who carried [[clarified butter]] and sugar as supplies, introduced knowledge of sugar along the various [[trade routes]] they travelled.<ref name="Adas">{{cite book |last=Adas |first=Michael |title=Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History |date=2001 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=1-56639-832-0 |publication-place=Philadelphia |page=311}}</ref> Traveling Buddhist monks took sugar [[crystallization methods]] to China.<ref name="Kieschnick1">{{cite book | last=Kieschnick | first=John | title=The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton | date=2003-04-06 | isbn=0-691-09676-7}}</ref> During the reign of [[Harsha]] (r. 606–647) in [[North India]], Indian envoys in [[Tang dynasty|Tang China]] taught methods of cultivating sugarcane after [[Emperor Taizong of Tang]] (r. 626–649) made known his interest in sugar. China established its first sugarcane plantations in the seventh century.<ref name="sen 38 40">{{cite book | last=Sen | first=Tansen | title=Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400 | publisher=University of Hawaii Press | publication-place=Honolulu (T.H.) | date=2003-01-01 | isbn=0-8248-2593-4 | pages=38–40}}</ref> Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 CE, to obtain technology for sugar refining.<ref name="Kieschnick11">{{cite book | last=Kieschnick | first=John | title=The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton | date=2003-04-06 | isbn=0-691-09676-7 | page=258}}</ref>