Platina wrote around 1475 that sugar was
being produced in Crete and Sicily as well as
India and Arabia, and added,
The ancients used sugar only in medicines,
and for this reason make no mention of
sugar in their foods. They certainly missed
out on a great delight, since nothing given
us to eat is so flavorless that sugar cannot
make it savory.... By melting it, we make
almonds...pine nuts, hazelnuts, coriander,
anise, cinnamon, and many other foods
into beautiful things. The quality of sugar
then almost crosses over into the qualities
of the things to which it clings in the
confection.Food Words: Sugar and Candy
Our language bears the traces of sugar’s
passage from India through the Middle
East to Europe. The English word sugar
comes from the Arabic imitation of the