WORLD MAP OF SUGAR PRODUCTION

Sugar:

Sugar (sucrose) is found in almost all plants, but at concentrations high enough for economic recovery only in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris). The former is a giant grass growing in tropical and subtropical areas; the latter is a root crop growing in temperate zones. Sucrose from either source (or from the relatively minor sources, maple tree and date palm) is the same C12 H22 O11 molecule yielding 3.94 kilocalories/gram as do all carbohydrates; differences in sugar products come from other components isolated with sucrose.

The word sugar comes from "Carkara" (Sanskrit); the first sugar crop was cane, developed from wild varieties in the East Indies, probably New Guinea. Sugarbeet was developed in Europe in the 18th century at Napoleon's request for an alternate home grown source of sugar, to save his ships from running blockade in the Caribbean. Sugarcane, once harvested, cannot be stored because of sucrose decomposition; therefore, the two-stage manufacture of raw sugar in the cane-growing areas, with shipment to countries of high sugar consumption for refining into food products, developed. Sugarbeet, which can be stored, is generally processed in one stage into white sugar.