History of Sugar

The preference for sweet is laid to humans in the cradle: Even mother’s milk tastes sweet. And the tongue has its own area that tastes the sweet.

In the past…

While today industrially produced sugar is available at any time, sweet was once an expensive rarity. In ancient times, honey was considered the sweet food of the gods, which was supposed to protect against diseases and prolong life. The first sugar cane plantations were established in Persia.

The Crusades brought sugar to Europe. Here, however, it only became affordable after the Berlin chemist Sigismund Marggraf discovered in 1747 that sugar could be made from the juice of the beet.

Today, about a quarter of the world’s sugar comes from sugar beets, and about three quarters from sugar cane. Most sugar is sold as caster sugar. It accounts for about 75 percent of production.

And today?

Today, every German citizen consumes an average of around 36 kilograms of sugar per year. That’s around 100 grams or about 33 sugar cubes a day – significantly more than nutrition experts recommend.

According to estimates, 80 percent of sugar is consumed in hidden form, for example with convenience foods, ketchup, chocolate, candy and ice cream. Lemonades and beverages containing cola also usually contain a lot of sugar. Even a small glass of lemonade (200ml) contains around 24 grams of sugar. This is equivalent to about eight sugar cubes.