Sugar Facts

Sugar is one of the oldest ingredients, dating back to 326 BC! Learn other interesting facts you may not have known about sugar:

• In 327 BC, Alexander the Great discovered the sugar cane; it then spread through Persia and introduced it in the Mediterranean.
• Sugar’s name originated from the Sanskrit word “Sharkara,” which means “material in a granule form.”
• Christopher Columbus introduced sugar to the New World in 1493 on his second voyage.
• Sugar was called “White Gold”: Until the late 1700's, sugar was a luxury that European nobility used to validate their rank and social power.
• Sugar does help the medicine go down! It’s an important component of many modern medicines.
• Some people say that one teaspoon of sugar swallowed “dry” can cure the hiccups!
• Sugar has no fat and is 100% natural.
• Sweet is the only taste humans are born desiring.
• Some plants can make their own sugar— when a banana ripens, it changes starch into sugar, making it sweeter.
• In 2001, scientists found sugar in outer space!
• Sugar helps bread or doughnuts rise when they’re baked.
• Sugar cane stalks can reach 30 feet high!
• Sugar prolongs the life of fresh cut flowers.
• Sugar is an important source of carbohydrate—the body’s main energy supply.