A long and ancient history. The history of sugar began more than 3000 years ago. For many years, this history was dominated by cane sugar. Its rival, sugar beet, only enters our story from the 19th century onwards.

The Pacific Ocean

Sugar cane, a large tropical grass, originated from New Guinea and its neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is known to have been cultivated there first in 1000 BC before reaching India and then China. The Indians devised the first techniques for converting cane into sugar. They also gave it a name - “sarkara”.

Persians

During an expedition through the Indus Valley in the 6th century BC, the Persians under King Darius the Great found the famous “reeds that produce honey without bees”. They brought them to the West. A few merchants began to trade in sugar but cultivation was still confined to India.

Antiquity

After the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans started to use sugar. They partly owed this discovery to one man - Megasthenes. A Greek historian and geographer born around 340 BC, he spent ten years in India, including as ambassador to the court of the Indian king Chandragupta Maurya.


The Greeks and Romans mainly used sugar for therapeutic purposes. Greek doctor and botanist, Dioscoride (40 AD - 90  AD) wrote of a “hard honey called sugar. Its consistency and crunch under the teeth is like salt.” He recommended sugar water to treat or purge the kidneys, stomach, intestines and bladder.