ALL ABOUT SUGAR

Sugar History

Before sugar came into being as we know today, the only two sources of sweet flavor in the world were honey and sugar cane. According to more recent information, sugar cane comes from New Guinea, where it existed as a wild and ornamental plant. From New Guinea, sugar cane was disseminated to several Southern lines of the Pacific Ocean, in Indochina, the Malaysia archipelago and in Bengali, having become a sugar producing plant in tropical India. Sugar cane has been grown since ancient times. The Persians, according to the literature, were the pioneers in developing techniques for production of crystal sugar as it is known today. For many centuries, they obtained large sucrose crystals through a simple technology consisting of draining molasses under the action of gravity. Sugar production secrets have spread little by little throughout the Middle East. The Arabs and Egyptians learned with the Persians to produce solid sugar and, around the 10th and 11th centuries, they set up actual “sugar routes”, with transportation caravans between Asian and African countries. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Chinese, along with the Arabs, were responsible for expanding the sugar industry in the regions bathed by the Mediterranean sea and the Indic Ocean. There were attempts to introduce the sugarcane crop in Greece, Italy and some regions in France. However, they were not quite successful due to inappropriate weather and, as a result, the easterners remained as the largest sugarcane suppliers in the western world.

At that time, the Venetian merchants were the main middlemen of this business: they bought up sugar coming from India in Alexandria and then sold it to the rest of Europe.

For hundreds of years, sugar was considered an extremely rare and precious spice. Consuming sugar was possible only in royal palaces and noblemen’s homes. Sold at pharmacist’s shops, it reached very high prices and was only affordable to the most powerful ones.

Upon the discovery of America, the sugar poorly produced with the quick introduction of sugar cane in this new continent became a commodity affordable to all social classes.

In spite of the development of techniques for sugar production shown by the Europeans in the 16th century, only in the 19th century, with the introduction of the steam machine, the evaporation and the vacuum pans and the centrifuges, as a result of the advances brought about by the Industrial Revolution, the commercial sugar production experimented remarkable technological developments.

In the 18th century, the basis of the beet industry was launched in Europe, with remarkable technological developments, surpassing sugarcane production in the period between 1993 and 1902. From those days on, despite the slow reaction at the beginning of the century, sugarcane production has been surpassing beet production.

SUGARCANE AGROINDUSTRY EXPANSION IN BRAZIL

Although the existence of sugar cane as a plant native of the American continent has been admitted, it has been certified that its industrialization in Brazil started with seed plants from the Madeira Island. The infant D. Henrique decided to introduce sugarcane crop in the Madeira Island. The project succeeded and soon Portugal was selling sugar to the rest of Europe. At that time, Portugal began its commercial expansion policy with the conquest of new markets. It was during one of the attempts to get to the Indies, a potential consuming market, that Brazil was discovered.

As the Portuguese sailors advanced onto the Atlantic, they discovered numerous desert islands suitable for sugarcane planting. On San Miguel island, in the Azores archipelago, the crop was successful, but the weather became unfavorable along the years. In the Cape Verde archipelago the crop was also introduced, but lack of rain impaired production. On San Thomas and Prince islands, where water was plentiful, great sugarcane fields flourished. In the 16th century, 150 thousand arrobas were produced a year (each arroba corresponding to 15 kilograms).

Sugarcane crop found excellent conditions to develop in the New Continent and not many years went by for it to become widespread in many of the recently colonized countries. Soils were fertile; weather was appropriate and so successful that, around 1854, there were about 115 mills in Brazil, working thanks to the effort of 10,000 slaves, who produced over 200,000 arrobas of sugar a year, around 3,000 tons.

At that time, sugar was a coveted merchandise in Europe, and was called “white gold” for being so enriching.

With the seed plants on the Madeira island, Martim Afonso de Souza, in 1533 founded the Capitania São Vicente, near the city of Santos, State of São Paulo, the first mill to produce sugar under the name of São Jorge dos Erasmos. New small sugar crops were introduced in several Brazilian coastal regions and sugar began to be produced in the States of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Sergipe and Alagoas. The region that developed most of all those regions was the region of Pernambuco, where 66 mills were installed by the end of the 16th century.

During the colonial period in the 17th century, the sugar industry experimented great development. The Dutch, bringing state-of-the-art technology, propelled sugar manufacturing. Better weather and soil conditions in the Brazilian northeastern coast and the proximity to the European continent favored sugarcane development in that region.

In the 18th century, the sugar industry faced a downfall, mainly because the Dutch were ousted from Brazil and immigrated to the Suriname and the Antilles, making up strong competitors to Brazilian producers. The interest of inhabitants of the States of São Paulo and Minas Gerais in mining (18th century), the growth of the beet industry (19th century), the interest in coffee crop (20th century), the social political problems resulting from foreign invasions (18th century) and the great world wars (20th century), the incidence of pests and diseases (20th century) and the low prices caused sugar production in Brazil in these past centuries to go through several development stages, with highs and lows.

Searching for new sources of energy as an alternative to the oil crisis of the 70s, the Brazilian government started to invest great amounts in sugarcane crops in order to obtain alcohol from sucrose fermentation. With that, the sugar industry was benefited as a result of investments in modernization of mills, purchase of new equipment, improvements in the process, etc.

Sugar Properties

The following physical-chemical properties make refined sugar a useful, safe and versatile ingredient. These properties are difficult or impossible to be reproduced in any other sweetening substance.

Sweetness

The sweet flavor is positively preferred by most humans. This preference is explained because the nature of the sweet flavor is associated with safe and nutritious food, whereas the bitter flavor is associated with poisonous substances.

Even though sugar is the most commonly used sweetener, it is not the sweetest.

NATURAL SWEETENERTYPE % OF SWEETNESS COMPARED WITH SUGAR Lactose 40 Glucose 70 - 80 Sucrose 100 Fructose 170 - 180

Sugar provides a sweet flavor with no unpleasant aftertaste. Sugar use may improve food appreciation and, therefore, increases food variety available for consumption.

Bodying Agent

Sugar provides body to food, contributing to volume in cakes, breads and candies. Sugar helps reach the appropriate ice cream texture.

Fermentation

Sugar in fermented dough, such as breads and sweet breads speeds up fermentation of yeast, which provides the carbon dioxide needed to increase and confer lightness to dough. Sugar acts as food to yeast in the production of some fermented alcoholic beverages.

Preserver and Antioxidant

Sugar helps contain bacteria, yeast and mould growth in a great variety of products. These include jellies, tonics, and condensed milk. Sugar addition to canned fruit decreases fruit oxidation and avoids darkening (brown color) once the can is opened.

Flavor Enhancer

A small amount of sugar agrees well with the flavor of natural canned fruit, condiments and soda, enhancing the desired flavor without adding sweetness.

Viscosity

Sugar adds body and viscosity to a great variety of liquids and semi-liquids, including soda, flavored milk, fruit drinks and yogurts. This is especially important in drinks because a heavier liquid is usually more attractive and pleasant to taste than a watery one.

Color

Sugar caramelizes when heated to produce color and distinct flavor in baked products, such as bread and biscuits. This product is used to produce the distinct caramel color in confectionery.

Moisturizer

Sugar helps to keep water content and this delays spoiling of bread, cakes, biscuits and other products, promoting a longer shelf life.

Chemical Production

Sugar may be used in sorbitol and manitol production (sugar alcohol), crystalline fructose and a variety of chemical products.

Anticoagulant

Sugar delays protein coagulation, producing a softer product, such as, beaten egg cream.

Osmotic Pressure Control

In canned fruit, it is important to prevent fruit sugar from leaving its cells and entering the can solution. Sugar increases osmotic pressure of the can solution, preventing the transfer of fruit sugar out of the fruit and the consequent loss in flavor.

Sugar Characteristics

As a result of refining, sugar acquires important characteristics that improve its suitability as a food preparation ingredient. These characteristics, important to the commercial food manufacturer, include:

Absence of additional flavors, besides sweetness, which may at times cover up natural food flavors. Clean flavor is important to avoid interaction with flavors of primary ingredients, such as eggs, pieces of fruit or chocolate.   A low level of initial color allows the color of the product to be maintained. During food preparation, color presentation of the product is important. The use of the variety of sugars available helps achieve a more attractive color to the product.   Free of microorganisms that cause food spoilage.   Quality uniformity guarantees the final result in food preparation.   A low reducing sugars level, which may cause unpleasant darkening of processed food and lead to a reduction of the expiration date.

Sugar Applications

Sugar is the most versatile sweetener available. It is commonly used in a variety of foods because of its features, which cannot be reproduced by any other ingredient.

Baked Products

The main role played by sugar in baked products is to act as yeast fermentation substratum or medium. The gas released by fermentation (carbon dioxide) promotes product growth. Sugar releases carbon dioxide faster than starch. Sugar is consumed by yeast and the fermentation products contribute to the taste, volume, and aroma of the final product. Sugar helps retain moisture of baked products, delaying aging and extending shelf life.

In some baked products, brown sugar or molasses are used to provide more attractive color and flavor. In breads, cakes and biscuits, both clear color and crystal size are important. Variations in crystal size may lead to the production of deformed biscuits and cakes. This is particularly difficult when uniform size is required for packing.

Meringues

In meringues and sponge-cakes, sugar strengthens the protein bond and stabilizes beaten egg whites. When sugar is introduced in egg whites, it confers sticking strength to protein, thus allowing the mixture to retain a great portion of air. The way sugar is introduced in egg whites affects the volume of the product.

During preparation of the meringue mixture, heating and final packing are highly susceptible to moisture and extra care should be taken to prevent their influence.

There are several methods to make meringue. One of the least successful ones is through simple introduction of sugar into egg whites. This method may produce great results on a dry day, but it will not work on a wet day or in a kitchen with steam. For consistent results, egg whites should be beaten in a dry and clean bowl until they harden. Half of the sugar should be added to provide strength to the mixture. The rest of the sugar is then slowly added to complete preparation.

Cupcakes

In cupcakes, granulated sugar is used to incorporate air to fat during cream preparation in order to produce light cupcakes. When sugar is beaten with butter or margarine, air is held in sugar crystals covered by fat, producing a light texture in the final product. When sugar and flour are in the mixture, sugar dissipates the protein molecules of the flour gluten. By keeping gluten soft, sugar allows it to grow and provides volume and lightness to the mixture.

Biscuits

In biscuits, sugar provides sweetness, crunchiness and color to the final product. It produces flatter grains, making dough easier to spread out.

Spices

A small amount of sugar may be used to enhance the desired flavor of a product, without adding sweetness. For example, a bit of sugar changes the acidity of ingredients and helps mix flavors of condiments such as mustard, sauces and salad dressings. A teaspoon of caramelized sugar in hot sauces or syrups not only provides a rich brown color, but also enhances flavor.

Confectionery

Sugar is essential in confectionery, used for taste, texture and appearance of this food. Confectionery is largely based on the manipulation of sugar to achieve special texture effects. Factors that control texture in confect include sucrose crystallization degree, the relation between sucrose and moisture, and the amount and size of sucrose crystals.

When sugar is boiled, it goes through several stages before turning into caramel. Sugar may be used as cover, granulated or in cubes, is dissolved in a small amount of water. This solution is then quickly boiled until it produces bubbles very close to each other. This event indicates that water evaporation is complete. Care should be taken when sugar starts to cook, becoming thick and quickly achieving a dark caramel color. In this stage, the mixture will burn quickly and become bitter, since sugar loses its sweetening power.

Differences in texture are really important in candy quality. Sugar crystallization is considered unpleasant in smooth and hard sweets, although it is essential the texture of creamy chocolate sweet. In addition to the contribution to texture and sweetness, sugar also acts as a preserver, enhancing chocolate and nut flavor, helping in the development of color and taste, as well as maintaining fats and oils together to form a stable mixture that will not break up.

When brown sugar is used to replace white sugar, a characteristic taste may develop, which is appropriate for a variety of confectionery products.

Dairy Products

Sugar contributes to the flavor of dairy products, such as yogurt, ice cream and flavored milk. It helps the development of creamy textures of ice creams and cream sweets. High sugar content in ice cream lowers freezing point and produces a smoother product.

In egg creams, sugar helps delay coagulation of egg proteins. This factor prevents cream from “breaking up” during cooking, achieving a stronger, finer and smoother texture.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits

Sugar acts as a preserver in canned fruit, avoiding growth of mould and yeast. It also helps maintain the rigidness of fruit and protect it from drying out once the can is opened. Sugar addition to canned fruit is considered one of the oldest methods to minimize oxidation. Sugar syrup covers the fruit physically and protects it from drying and darkening.

Sugar is also used as a preserver in fruit preserves. By binding to the water available, sugar prevents the growth of harmful bacteria. To play this role and help forming gel, sugar should be in high concentration in fruit preserves and jams.

When freezing fruit and vegetables, it is really important to delay or inactivate present enzymes. This is required because temperature of home freezers is not low enough to inactivate them. In the case of vegetables, these enzymes are destroyed by bleaching, but this method is not practiced nor required in fruit. Sugar addition to fruit being prepared for freezing delays the action of enzymes.

Sugar may be used in two ways for freezing, both as syrup and its natural dry state. If tender or wild fruit are frozen without sugar, the liquid present in them turns into ice, breaking up the fruit structure and making it disintegrate when defrosted. If such fruit is frozen with sugar syrup, the syrup penetrates into the fruit and prevents the formation of ice particles.

Vegetables

A small amount of sugar is usually added to vegetables under processing, so it acts as flavor enhancer and not as sweetener, thus improving the body and texture of the final product. Tomatoes and tomato sauces become less acid if a bit of sugar is added, thus improving taste.

Meat

Sugar use in the meat industry is small, but it plays an essential role as an aromatizing agent in the cooked meat process (example, ham, bacon, sausage and salami).

Sugar helps to stabilize the red color in cooked meat, reducing losses due to shrinking during the smoking and cooking processes and helps maintain the product moist and juicy.

Sugar cover in roast meat, such as roast ham, ribs or duck helps retain moisture on the surface and prevent it from drying out.