Editing Sucrose (section)

==Production==

===History of sucrose refinement===
{{multiple image
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 | footer = Table sugar production in the 19th century. [[Sugar cane]] plantations (upper image) employed slave or indentured laborers. The picture shows workers harvesting cane, loading it on a boat for transport to the plant, while a European overseer watches in the lower right. The lower image shows a sugar plant with two furnace chimneys. Sugar plants and plantations were harsh, inhumane work.<ref name=britain1/>
 | image1 = Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 3581-33h Ingekleurde litho voorstellende de oo.jpg
 | image2 = StateLibQld 1 235370 Mill house and stables on the Macnade Sugar Plantation, Ingham, ca. 1881.jpg
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[[File:Sokeritoppa.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[sugarloaf]] was a traditional form for sugar from the 17th to 19th centuries. [[Sugar nips]] were required to break off pieces.]]
{{Main|History of sugar}}
The production of table sugar has a long history. Some scholars claim Indians discovered how to crystallize sugar during the [[Gupta dynasty]], around CE 350.<ref name=Adas>
Adas, Michael (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qcSsoJ0IXawC&pg=PA311 ''Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614041819/https://books.google.com/books?id=qcSsoJ0IXawC&pg=PA311 |date=2013-06-14 }}. Temple University Press. {{ISBN|1-56639-832-0}}. p. 311.</ref>

Other scholars point to the ancient manuscripts of China, dated to the 8th century BCE, where one of the earliest historical mentions of [[sugar cane]] is included along with the fact that their knowledge of sugar cane was derived from [[India]].<ref name="gr1"/> By about 500 BCE, residents of modern-day India began making sugar syrup, cooling it in large flat bowls to produce raw sugar crystals that were easier to store and transport. In the local Indian language, these crystals were called {{transliteration|hi|khanda}} ({{lang|hi|खण्ड}}), which is the source of the word ''candy''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sugarcane: Saccharum Offcinarum|publisher=USAID, Govt of United States|year=2006|page=7.1|url=https://www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/environment/docs/ag&environ/Sugarcane.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106015828/https://www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/environment/docs/ag%26environ/Sugarcane.pdf|archive-date=2013-11-06}}</ref>

The army of [[Alexander the Great]] was halted on the banks of river [[Indus River|Indus]] by the refusal of his troops to go further east. They saw people in the Indian subcontinent growing sugarcane and making "granulated, salt-like sweet powder", locally called {{transliteration|mr|sākhar}} ({{lang|mr|साखर}}), ({{lang|ur|شکر}}), pronounced as {{transliteration|grc|sakcharon}} ({{lang|grc|ζακχαρον}}) in Greek (Modern Greek, {{transliteration|el|zachari}}, {{lang|el|ζάχαρη}}). On their return journey, the Greek soldiers carried back some of the "honey-bearing reeds". Sugarcane remained a limited crop for over a millennium. Sugar was a rare commodity and traders of sugar became wealthy. Venice, at the height of its financial power, was the chief sugar-distributing center of [[Europe]].<ref name=gr1>{{cite book|title=Something about sugar: its history, growth, manufacture and distribution|author=Rolph, George |year=1873|publisher=San Francisco, J. J. Newbegin |url=https://archive.org/details/somethingaboutsu00rolprich}}</ref> Moors started producing it in [[Sicily]] and [[Spain]]. Only after the [[Crusades]] did it begin to rival honey as a sweetener in Europe. The Spanish began cultivating sugarcane in the [[West Indies]] in 1506 ([[Cuba]] in 1523). The [[Portugal|Portuguese]] first cultivated sugarcane in [[Brazil]] in 1532.

Sugar remained a luxury in much of the world until the 18th century. Only the wealthy could afford it. In the 18th century, the demand for table sugar boomed in Europe and by the 19th century it had become regarded as a human necessity.<ref name=mintz/> The use of sugar grew from use in tea, to [[cake]]s, [[candy|confectionery]] and [[chocolate]]s. Suppliers marketed sugar in novel forms, such as solid cones, which required consumers to use a [[sugar nips|sugar nip]], a pliers-like tool, in order to break off pieces.

The demand for cheaper table sugar drove, in part, colonization of tropical islands and nations where labor-intensive sugarcane plantations and table sugar manufacturing could thrive. Growing sugar cane crop in hot humid climates, and producing table sugar in high temperature sugar mills was harsh, inhumane work. The demand for cheap labor for this work, in part, first drove slave trade from Africa (in particular West Africa), followed by indentured labor trade from South Asia (in particular India).<ref name=britain1>{{cite web|title=Forced Labour|year=2010|publisher=The National Archives, Government of the United Kingdom|url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/india/forced.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204015712/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/india/forced.htm|archive-date=2016-12-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lai, Walton|title=Indentured labor, Caribbean sugar: Chinese and Indian migrants to the British West Indies, 1838–1918|year=1993|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-7746-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Vertovik, Steven|editor=Cohen, Robin|title=The Cambridge survey of world migration|year=1995|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgesurveyo00robi/page/57 57–68]|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-44405-7|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgesurveyo00robi/page/57}}</ref> Millions of slaves, followed by millions of indentured laborers were brought into the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Islands, East Africa, Natal, north and eastern parts of South America, and southeast Asia. The modern ethnic mix of many nations, settled in the last two centuries, has been influenced by table sugar.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Question of Labour: Indentured Immigration Into Trinidad & British Guiana, 1875–1917|author=Laurence, K |publisher=St Martin's Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0-312-12172-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=St. Lucia's Indian Arrival Day|publisher=Caribbean Repeating Islands|url=https://repeatingislands.com/2009/05/07/st-lucia's-indian-arrival-day/|date=2009-05-07|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424085806/https://repeatingislands.com/2009/05/07/st-lucia%E2%80%99s-indian-arrival-day/|archive-date=2017-04-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Indian indentured labourers|publisher=The National Archives, Government of the United Kingdom|year=2010|url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/indian-indentured-labour.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212175352/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/indian-indentured-labour.htm|archive-date=2011-12-12}}</ref>

Beginning in the late 18th century, the production of sugar became increasingly mechanized. The [[steam engine]] first powered a sugar mill in [[Jamaica]] in 1768, and, soon after, steam replaced direct firing as the source of process heat. During the same century, Europeans began experimenting with sugar production from other crops. [[Andreas Marggraf]] identified sucrose in [[beet root]]<ref>Marggraf (1747) [https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA79 "Experiences chimiques faites dans le dessein de tirer un veritable sucre de diverses plantes, qui croissent dans nos contrées"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624083152/https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA79 |date=2016-06-24 }} [Chemical experiments made with the intention of extracting real sugar from diverse plants that grow in our lands], ''Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles-lettres de Berlin'', pp. 79–90.</ref> and his student [[Franz Achard]] built a sugar beet processing factory in Silesia (Prussia). The beet-sugar industry took off during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], when France and the continent were cut off from Caribbean sugar. In 2009, about 20 percent of the world's sugar was produced from beets.<ref name=agrisugar1>{{cite web|title=Agribusiness Handbook: Sugar beet white sugar|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations|year=2009|url=https://www.eastagri.org/publications/pub_docs/4_Sugar_web.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905234431/https://www.eastagri.org/publications/pub_docs/4_Sugar_web.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-05}}</ref>

Today, a large beet refinery producing around 1,500 tonnes of sugar a day needs a permanent workforce of about 150 for 24-hour production.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

===Trends===
[[File:Sugar Beet Factory, England.jpg|thumb|upright=1.45|A table sugar factory in England. The [[Sugar beet#Processing|tall diffusers]] are visible to the middle left where the harvest transforms into a sugar syrup. The boiler and furnace are in the center, where table sugar crystals form. An expressway for transport is visible in the lower left.]]

Table sugar (sucrose) comes from plant sources. Two important sugar crops predominate: [[sugarcane]] (''Saccharum spp.'') and [[sugar beet]]s (''Beta vulgaris''), in which sugar can account for 12% to 20% of the plant's dry weight. Minor commercial sugar crops include the [[date palm]] (''Phoenix dactylifera''), [[sorghum]] (''Sorghum vulgare''), and the [[sugar maple]] (''Acer saccharum''). Sucrose is obtained by extraction of these crops with hot water; concentration of the extract gives syrups, from which solid sucrose can be crystallized. In 2017, worldwide production of table sugar amounted to 185 million tonnes.<ref name="prod2017">{{cite news|title=World 2017/18 sugar production, consumption seen at record: USDA|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sugar-usda-supplies/world-2017-18-sugar-production-consumption-seen-at-record-usda-idUSKBN1DH2LV|newspaper=Reuters|author=Marcy Nicholson|date=17 November 2017|access-date=21 December 2019|archive-date=14 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914144035/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sugar-usda-supplies/world-2017-18-sugar-production-consumption-seen-at-record-usda-idUSKBN1DH2LV|url-status=live}}</ref>

Most cane sugar comes from countries with warm climates, because sugarcane does not tolerate frost. Sugar beets, on the other hand, grow only in cooler temperate regions and do not tolerate [[heat wave|extreme heat]]. About 80 percent of sucrose is derived from sugarcane, the rest almost all from sugar beets.

In mid-2018, India and Brazil had about the same production of sugar – 34 million tonnes – followed by the [[European Union]], [[Thailand]], and China as the major producers.<ref name="usda2018">{{cite web |title=Sugar: World Markets and Trade |url=https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/sugar.pdf |publisher=Office of Global Analysis, Foreign Agricultural Service, US Department of Agriculture |access-date=21 December 2018 |date=4 November 2018 |archive-date=21 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021034740/https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/sugar.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> India, the European Union, and China were the leading domestic consumers of sugar in 2018.<ref name=usda2018/>

Beet sugar comes from regions with cooler climates: northwest and eastern Europe, northern Japan, plus some areas in the United States (including California). In the northern hemisphere, the beet-growing season ends with the start of harvesting around September. Harvesting and processing continues until March in some cases. The availability of processing plant capacity and the weather both influence the duration of harvesting and processing&nbsp;– the industry can store harvested beets until processed, but a frost-damaged beet becomes effectively unprocessable.

The United States sets high sugar prices to support its producers, with the effect that many former purchasers of sugar have switched to [[corn syrup]] (beverage manufacturers) or moved out of the country (candy manufacturers).

The low prices of [[glucose syrup]]s produced from [[wheat]] and corn ([[maize]]) threaten the traditional sugar market. Used in combination with [[artificial sweetener]]s, they can allow drink manufacturers to produce very low-cost goods.

===Types===

====Cane====
{{Main|Sugarcane}}
[[File:Cut sugarcane.jpg|thumb|Harvested sugarcane from Venezuela ready for processing]]
Since the 6th century BCE, cane sugar producers have crushed the harvested vegetable material from sugarcane in order to collect and filter the juice. They then treat the liquid, often with lime ([[calcium oxide]]), to remove impurities and then neutralize it. Boiling the juice then allows the sediment to settle to the bottom for dredging out, while the scum rises to the surface for skimming off. In cooling, the liquid crystallizes, usually in the process of stirring, to produce sugar crystals. [[Centrifuge]]s usually remove the uncrystallized syrup. The producers can then either sell the sugar product for use as is, or process it further to produce lighter grades. The later processing may take place in another factory in another country.

Sugarcane is a major component of Brazilian agriculture; the country is the world's largest producer of sugarcane and its derivative products, such as crystallized sugar and [[ethanol]] ([[ethanol fuel]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Top Sugarcane Producing Countries: Brazil outperforms its next 6 closest competitors combined|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-sugarcane-producing-countries.html|publisher=World Atlas|access-date=2 January 2018|date=25 April 2017|archive-date=3 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103082507/https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-sugarcane-producing-countries.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Beet====
[[File:SugarBeet.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Sugar beets]]
{{Main|Sugar beet}}
Beet sugar producers slice the washed beets, then extract the sugar with hot water in a "[[Diffuser (heat)|diffuser]]". An alkaline solution ("[[Lime water|milk of lime]]" and [[carbon dioxide]] from the lime kiln) then serves to [[precipitation (chemistry)|precipitate]] impurities (see [[carbonatation]]). After filtration,{{Clarify|date=February 2010}} evaporation concentrates the juice to a content of about 70% solids, and controlled crystallisation extracts the sugar. A centrifuge removes the sugar crystals from the liquid, which gets recycled in the crystalliser stages. When economic constraints prevent the removal of more sugar, the manufacturer discards the remaining liquid, now known as [[molasses]], or sells it on to producers of animal feed.

Sieving the resultant white sugar produces different grades for selling.

=====Cane versus beet=====
It is difficult to distinguish between fully refined sugar produced from beet and cane. One way is by [[isotope analysis]] of carbon. Cane uses [[C4 carbon fixation]], and beet uses [[C3 carbon fixation]], resulting in a different ratio of [[carbon 13|<sup>13</sup>C]] and [[carbon 12|<sup>12</sup>C]] isotopes in the sucrose. Tests are used to detect fraudulent abuse of [[European Union]] subsidies or to aid in the detection of adulterated [[fruit juice]].

Sugar cane tolerates hot climates better, but the production of sugar cane needs approximately four times as much water as the production of sugar beet. As a result, some countries that traditionally produced cane sugar (such as [[Egypt]]) have built new beet sugar factories since about 2008. Some sugar factories process both sugar cane and sugar beets and extend their processing period in that way.

The production of sugar leaves residues that differ substantially depending on the raw materials used and on the place of production. While cane molasses is often used in food preparation, humans find molasses from sugar beets unpalatable, and it consequently ends up mostly as [[industrial fermentation]] feedstock (for example in [[ethanol|alcohol]] distilleries), or as [[compound feed|animal feed]]. Once dried, either type of molasses can serve as fuel for burning.

Pure beet sugar is difficult to find, so labelled, in the marketplace. Although some makers label their product clearly as "pure cane sugar", beet sugar is almost always labeled simply as sugar or pure sugar. Interviews with the five major beet sugar-producing companies revealed that many store brands or "private label" sugar products are pure beet sugar. The lot code can be used to identify the company and the plant from which the sugar came, enabling beet sugar to be identified if the codes are known.<ref>[https://ibstreatmentcenter.com/Newsletters/Jan10.pdf January 2010 Newsletter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924162218/https://ibstreatmentcenter.com/Newsletters/Jan10.pdf |date=2010-09-24 }}, IBS Treatment Center</ref>

====Culinary sugars====
[[File:Raw sugar closeup.jpg|thumb|Grainy raw sugar]]

=====Mill white=====
Mill white, also called plantation white, crystal sugar or superior sugar is produced from raw sugar. It is exposed to [[sulfur dioxide]] during the production to reduce the concentration of color compounds and helps prevent further color development during the crystallization process. Although common to sugarcane-growing areas, this product does not store or ship well. After a few weeks, its impurities tend to promote discoloration and clumping; therefore this type of sugar is generally limited to local consumption.<ref>{{cite book | author = Steindl, Roderick | date = 2005 | title = Syrup Clarification for Plantation White Sugar to meet New Quality Standards | editor = Hogarth, DM | publisher = Proceedings of the XXV Congress of International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists | pages = 106–16 | location = Guatemala, Guatemala City | url = https://eprints.qut.edu.au/4888/1/4888_1.pdf | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130810042657/https://eprints.qut.edu.au/4888/1/4888_1.pdf | archive-date = 2013-08-10 }}</ref>

=====Blanco directo=====
Blanco directo, a white sugar common in India and other south Asian countries, is produced by precipitating many impurities out of cane juice using [[phosphoric acid]] and [[calcium hydroxide]], similar to the [[carbonatation]] technique used in beet sugar refining. Blanco directo is more pure than mill white sugar, but less pure than white refined.

=====White refined=====
{{See also|White sugar}}
White refined is the most common form of sugar in North America and Europe. Refined sugar is made by dissolving and purifying raw sugar using [[phosphoric acid]] similar to the method used for blanco directo, a [[carbonatation]] process involving calcium hydroxide and carbon dioxide, or by various filtration strategies. It is then further purified by filtration through a bed of [[activated carbon]] or [[bone char]]. Beet sugar refineries produce refined white sugar directly without an intermediate raw stage.{{Clarify|date=February 2010}}

White refined sugar is typically sold as '''''granulated sugar''''', which has been dried to prevent clumping and comes in various crystal sizes for home and industrial use:
[[Image:Sucre blanc cassonade complet rapadura.jpg|thumb|Sugars; clockwise from top left: Refined, unrefined, brown, unprocessed cane]]
* {{Anchor|Coarse-grain}}'''Coarse-grain''', such as ''sanding sugar'' (also called "pearl sugar", "decorating sugar", ''nibbed sugar'' or ''sugar nibs'') is a coarse grain sugar used to add sparkle and flavor atop baked goods and candies. Its large reflective crystals will not dissolve when subjected to heat.
* '''Granulated''', familiar as table sugar, with a grain size about 0.5&nbsp;mm across.<ref name="tryengineering">[https://www.tryengineering.org/lessons/sugarnano.pdf Sugar Crystal Challenge] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508221320/https://www.tryengineering.org/lessons/sugarnano.pdf |date=2013-05-08 }}. IEEE</ref> "[[Sugar cube]]s" are lumps for convenient consumption produced by mixing granulated sugar with sugar syrup.
* {{Anchor|Caster}}'''Caster''' (0.35&nbsp;mm),<ref name="tryengineering" /> a very fine sugar in Britain and other Commonwealth countries, so-named because the grains are small enough to fit through a [[sugar caster]] which is a small vessel with a perforated top, from which to sprinkle sugar at table.<ref name="OED">"castor, n.2." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 25 July 2017. It says castor is a misspelling that is now the preferred spelling.</ref> Commonly used in baking and mixed drinks, it is sold as '''"superfine"''' sugar in the United States. Because of its fineness, it dissolves faster than regular white sugar and is especially useful in meringues and cold liquids. Caster sugar can be prepared at home by grinding granulated sugar for a couple of minutes in a mortar or food processor.
* '''[[Powdered sugar|Powdered]]''', ''10X sugar,'' ''confectioner's sugar'' (0.060&nbsp;mm), or ''icing sugar'' (0.024&nbsp;mm), produced by grinding sugar to a fine powder. The manufacturer may add a small amount of [[anticaking agent]] to prevent clumping&nbsp;— either [[corn starch]] (1% to 3%) or tri-[[calcium phosphate]].

[[File:Sa brownsugar.jpg|thumb|Brown sugar crystals]]
'''[[Brown sugar]]''' comes either from the late stages of cane sugar refining, when sugar forms fine crystals with significant molasses content, or from coating white refined sugar with a cane molasses syrup (blackstrap molasses). Brown sugar's color and taste become stronger with increasing molasses content, as do its moisture-retaining properties. Brown sugars also tend to harden if exposed to the atmosphere, although proper handling can reverse this.

===Measurement===

====Dissolved sugar content====
Scientists and the [[sugar industry]] use degrees [[Brix]] (symbol °Bx), introduced by [[Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix|Adolf Brix]], as units of measurement of the mass ratio of dissolved substance to water in a liquid. A 25 °Bx sucrose solution has 25&nbsp;grams of sucrose per 100&nbsp;grams of liquid; or, to put it another way, 25&nbsp;grams of sucrose sugar and 75&nbsp;grams of water exist in the 100&nbsp;grams of solution.

The Brix degrees are measured using an infrared sensor. This measurement does not equate to Brix degrees from a density or refractive index measurement, because it will specifically measure dissolved sugar concentration instead of all dissolved solids. When using a refractometer, one should report the result as "[[refractometric dried substance]]" (RDS). One might speak of a liquid as having 20 °Bx RDS. This refers to a measure of percent by weight of ''total'' dried solids and, although not technically the same as Brix degrees determined through an infrared method, renders an accurate measurement of sucrose content, since sucrose in fact forms the majority of dried solids. The advent of in-line infrared Brix measurement sensors has made measuring the amount of dissolved sugar in products economical using a direct measurement.