In prehistoric times, it was known to take sweets from fresh fruits, honey and plants. Later, it was developed to make maltose from grains, and then to make sugar from sugarcane beets. The history of sugar production has roughly experienced three stages: early sugar production, manual sugar production and mechanized sugar production.

China is one of the earliest countries in the world in the early sugar production stage. In the early stage, maltose and sucrose were dominant, and maltose played a greater role.

Making wine and sugar from grain is a great progress for mankind. There is a poem in the Book of Songs of the Western Zhou Dynasty in China called "A good place, viola is in full bloom", which means that the land in Zhou is very fertile, and even viola and chicory are as sweet as chicory. It means that caramel existed as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. Maltose is considered to be the earliest sugar made in the world. Maltose belongs to starch sugar, so it can be said that starch sugar has the longest history.

Maltose is a kind of sugar made from rice (starch) and malt by saccharification and boiling, which is viscous and commonly known as maltose. Since the creation of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it has been widely circulated among the people and widely eaten. The history books from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty recorded the consumption and production of caramel.

Among them, Qi Yao Min Shu (eighty-ninth) written by the Northern Wei Dynasty is the most detailed. The book describes the methods, steps and key points of making maltose, which will be used for a long time by future generations. Today, this starch sugar sweetener is still produced and has a good market, and it still has a certain position in the sugar industry. But sugar refining usually refers to sugar refining with sugarcane and beet as raw materials.

In 300 BC, the Indian Vedas and China's Chuci recorded the production of sucrose for the first time. These two countries are the first countries to grow sugarcane in the world, and they are also the two birthplaces of sugarcane sugar production. In the early history of world sucrose production, China and India played an important role.

Extended data

There is a record about Indian sugar production in Dunhuang scraps, saying that sugarcane produced in India can make the best "cut sheet". "Sakhaling" is a transliteration of Sanskrit Sakala. It shows that sucrose originated in ancient India, and the production of sucrose in India was introduced to China and other parts of the world through the Silk Road.

Sugarcane cultivation in China began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At that time, sugarcane was only juiced or eaten directly, and the sugar-making technology was not mastered. At the end of Han dynasty, China began to make candied fruit with sugarcane juice, but the production technology was very backward.

Baidu encyclopedia-sugar

The sugar industry in China was introduced into China through the Silk Road. Interesting talk about scientific and technological exchanges between China and ancient times.