Saturday, October 25, 2014

Sugar

The West did not know sugar before the crusades.  They used to sweeten with honey in the Europe. The story is told that crusaders were drawn to the sight of boys sucking on sugar canes on the coast from Beirut to Tripoli (note that the two cities excel in the making of sweets).  That is how the European discovery of sugar started. William of Tyre acknowledges this.  Note also that the name for sugar in English and French is from the Arabic sukkar.