Sugar confusion

[bunnyjadwiga]

Why is it that so many people are so convinced that beet sugar (invented in the Napoleonic era) is *more* ancient and specifically medieval than cane sugar (the original form of sugar)? Why do people think that cane sugar was not available in the middle ages and renaissance?

What can we do to combat this?

Comments

[ghislainedel.livejournal.com]

I was one of those people until I posted my ignorance and was informed. In my case I only knew of sugar cane as a Caribbean product while I knew sugar beets grew in the fields we passed when I lived in Germany. It seemed like a clear New World vs. Old World thing to me. It never occurred to me that sugar cane might grow around the Mediterranean.

[madrun.livejournal.com]

It's from India, people!

[mistresshuette.livejournal.com]

Actually, sugar cane originated in Papua New Guinea and spread very quickly to China and India. The earliest mentions of sugar cane are in ancient texts prior to the 7th century BC.