It will aid the student greatly in comprehending this subject if he will review the chemical composition of sugars as given in Lesson IV under "Carbohydrates," Vol. I, p. 107.)
Sugar in its various forms is a very prolific food product. It is the principal substance contained in nearly all fruits, but we shall confine our discussion here to the various sugars and sirups as they appear in commerce, freed from the other materials with which they are associated in nature.
BEET-SUGAR
Origin of beet-sugar
Contrary to common belief, the greatest proportion of the world's supply of sugar comes from the sugar-beet. Sugar, which was once manufactured solely from the maple-sap and the sugar-cane, was discovered about one hundred years ago, to be present in beets. A very interesting historical fact is that the sugar-beet industry owes its origin to the efforts of Napoleon to supply France with home-produced sugar, because of the tariff or embargo laid upon foreign commerce. As a result of this effort all of Central Europe is now a heavy sugar-producing region.
The method of production and the quantity of sugar contained in the sugar-beet have been so greatly improved that the present industry is quite able to compete with the production of sugar from cane in the tropical regions. Crude sugar from sugar-beets is very unpalatable, but the refined or crystallized form of beet sugar is chemically identical with cane-sugar.
Cane-sugar
Sugar-cane, though not so important as formerly, is still grown very extensively in several of the Southern states—Cuba, Porto Rico, and many semi-tropical countries. The chief distinction between cane-sugar and beet-sugar is that the crude cane-sugar, before it is refined, is a very wholesome and palatable product. The brown sugar of commerce is uncrystallized, or unrefined cane-sugar, and is fully as wholesome, and to most tastes more palatable than the granulated product. It is to be regretted that fashion has decreed we should use white sugar.
Refined sugar