Obsessive personality? Me? Just because I started researching the histories of sugar and of vinegar to see which were the most period appropriate types to use for my sekanjabin...
Anyway... Welcome back to the kitchen for part one of my "sweet and sour" series, where I will share what I've learned about sugar and vinegar, and the wonderful drinks that can be made from them. I have to admit, I was surprised by what I found when I started this research.
I went into this research with some fairly common misconceptions. I thought "of course honey was used more than sugar in period cooking", and "sugar cane is a new world crop, so beet sugar is what would have been available." Lastly, I was convinced that the "natural sugar" (also called demerara or turbino sugar) was the closest we have now to what would have been available in period. After all, they couldn't have refined it to be a white sugar, could they?
I was definitely surprised by what I found.
Sugar starts being mentioned around 300 AD, when Alexander the Great found something around Tripoli that he referred to as "honey powder" or "honey without bees". Surprise! This was powder refined from the sugar cane.
The next historically significant information I found was several hundred years later, when the Arabs conquered Persia and took the sugar cane plants and the refining process with them back to the middle east.
Sugar seems to have been introduced to Europe sometime around the Crusades, when it became part of the spice trade. There was mention of "sweet salt" and, in fact, that seems to be largely how sugar was used for a long time. Sugar is found in "Powder Douce" ("Sweet Powder"), one of the fairly common spice blends. There are also several recipes that mention sprinkling with sugar just before serving, similar to the way some modern dishes are garnished with large salt crystals.
So, the first misconceptions are debunked...cane sugar is in fact historically accurate for most SCA period. (It turns out that sugar beets are an African crop.) The reason we think of sugar cane as being a new world crop is that Columbus took sugar cane with him on his second voyage to the West Indies. The plant thrived in the new environment, even more than it had in the middle east, and eventually the largest part of the sugar industry moved to the West Indies and Caribbean.
Now for the next big misconception...refined sugar is in fact period. There are illustrated manuscripts from the period depicting spice merchants with white sugar. The white color was deliberately chosen by the artist, so there must have been a reason. Also, there are recipes which call for "whitest refined" or "double refined" sugar. So it appears that white refined sugar is in fact historically accurate, although there are also references to brown or black sugar.
I would actually think that the brown sugar referred to is closer to the demerara sugar of today. Modern "brown sugar" is refined sugar with a bit of molasses added in for color and flavor. Demerara (or Turbino, or "Sugar in the Raw") is a less refined sugar in the first place. The basic process is that the juice is squeezed from the sugar cane, boiled a bit, then poured someplace to cool and crystallize. Sometimes this was done in molds, like loaves or cones, and nowadays it is sold in crystal form. Either way, white sugar is still fine to use, but sometimes the raw sugar may be more appropriate.
So, there's the current brain purge on all the things I've found about the history of sugar in the last few days. It was informative for me, and changed my perspective on whether to use sugar or honey in some situations. Next time, I'll be exploring vinegar.
Anyway... Welcome back to the kitchen for part one of my "sweet and sour" series, where I will share what I've learned about sugar and vinegar, and the wonderful drinks that can be made from them. I have to admit, I was surprised by what I found when I started this research.
I went into this research with some fairly common misconceptions. I thought "of course honey was used more than sugar in period cooking", and "sugar cane is a new world crop, so beet sugar is what would have been available." Lastly, I was convinced that the "natural sugar" (also called demerara or turbino sugar) was the closest we have now to what would have been available in period. After all, they couldn't have refined it to be a white sugar, could they?
I was definitely surprised by what I found.
Sugar starts being mentioned around 300 AD, when Alexander the Great found something around Tripoli that he referred to as "honey powder" or "honey without bees". Surprise! This was powder refined from the sugar cane.
The next historically significant information I found was several hundred years later, when the Arabs conquered Persia and took the sugar cane plants and the refining process with them back to the middle east.
Sugar seems to have been introduced to Europe sometime around the Crusades, when it became part of the spice trade. There was mention of "sweet salt" and, in fact, that seems to be largely how sugar was used for a long time. Sugar is found in "Powder Douce" ("Sweet Powder"), one of the fairly common spice blends. There are also several recipes that mention sprinkling with sugar just before serving, similar to the way some modern dishes are garnished with large salt crystals.
So, the first misconceptions are debunked...cane sugar is in fact historically accurate for most SCA period. (It turns out that sugar beets are an African crop.) The reason we think of sugar cane as being a new world crop is that Columbus took sugar cane with him on his second voyage to the West Indies. The plant thrived in the new environment, even more than it had in the middle east, and eventually the largest part of the sugar industry moved to the West Indies and Caribbean.
Now for the next big misconception...refined sugar is in fact period. There are illustrated manuscripts from the period depicting spice merchants with white sugar. The white color was deliberately chosen by the artist, so there must have been a reason. Also, there are recipes which call for "whitest refined" or "double refined" sugar. So it appears that white refined sugar is in fact historically accurate, although there are also references to brown or black sugar.
I would actually think that the brown sugar referred to is closer to the demerara sugar of today. Modern "brown sugar" is refined sugar with a bit of molasses added in for color and flavor. Demerara (or Turbino, or "Sugar in the Raw") is a less refined sugar in the first place. The basic process is that the juice is squeezed from the sugar cane, boiled a bit, then poured someplace to cool and crystallize. Sometimes this was done in molds, like loaves or cones, and nowadays it is sold in crystal form. Either way, white sugar is still fine to use, but sometimes the raw sugar may be more appropriate.
So, there's the current brain purge on all the things I've found about the history of sugar in the last few days. It was informative for me, and changed my perspective on whether to use sugar or honey in some situations. Next time, I'll be exploring vinegar.
No comments:
Post a Comment