Written and contributed by Lee Thatcher
The sugarcane plant is said to have originated in New Guinea, estimates suggest it was discovered six thousand years before the time of Christ, and slowly spread into India, then into China, where its name meant stone honey because the dried sugar syrup was ground using a stone similar to the ones used to grind grain. Sugar was quite prized in China and eventually found its way into Persian lands. It is said that the Prophet Mohammed called sugar cane the Persian Reed, which he discovered elsewhere during a phase of holy war.
In the middle Ages, the Arabs controlled the European sugar trade. Sugar was highly valuable, with a teaspoons amount being worth today’s American equivalent of five dollars, and a four-pound bag could buy you a small calf! It was purported to have medicinal properties. Even today it is believed by some of my grandmothers generation that sugar, placed on wounds, speeds healing and dries up the proud flesh. Actually, medical reports tend to back these findings since sugar has antibacterial properties.
Humans love the sweet taste. Before granulated sugar, we used the sap from Maple trees and honey, even molasses. Columbus is given credit for bringing cuttings of sugarcane to the New World. The plant thrived in the hot steamy regions of the West Indies. Hispanola and Cuba became extremely important sugar producers.
It wasn’t until the mid 1800s that America became more than a casual sugar producer. As early as the mid-to-late 1600s Florida and Louisiana were producing, but not very successfully. We depended on imports from England, but also the Caribbean Islands.
England’s Sugar Act of 1764, along with its other imposed taxes and tariffs, met with strong and swift resistance, culminating in a complete and victorious struggle for independence from the Mother Country The Revolutionary War.
It wasn’t until the mid 1800s that sugar production from the common sugar cane plant came into being, and years after that before America was a major producer of sugar.
How Sweet it is!
One acre of land can produce over 90 tons of cane, or 12.5 tons of raw cane.
Florida leads U.S. sugar production, accounting for well over half the total U.S. production. In 2001, Floridas output was over 200 million tons!
Before the American Civil War, the U.S. imported over 80% of Cuba’s sugar crops.
1960- Cuba commandeers 70,000 acres of U.S. owned sugar cropland. Eisenhower seeks and wins congressional authority to cut off Cuba’s sugar quota, in escalating tensions.
Americans each eat, on average, over 40 pounds per year of actual sugar, not counting other forms of sweeteners, such as corn syrup.
The largest producer of sugar cane is Asia.
Sugarcane production creates over 420,000 jobs in 42 U.S. states.
Sugar will contribute over 26 billion dollars to the U.S. Economy.
It takes America 2.4 minutes to produce one pound of sugar.
We come in second place to Singapore, with their rate of 2.2 minutes.
The rich in Europe once used sugar to create sculpture, plates, and even napkins for their tables.
Since 1990, the cost to produce sugar has dropped nearly 13%, but Americans continue to pay more for it and the products that contain it. Breakfast cereal costs have risen nearly 20%, candy, 22 %.
Published U.S. Legacies April 2004
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