Sugar, most commonly sucrose, is a compound found in most plants. However, only sugarcane and sugar beets (developed in the 19th century) have sucrose in high enough concentrations to extract. Because of the rate of sucrose decomposition, sugar is created in two stages--raw sugar is manufactured where sugarcane is grown and the sugar is refined in countries where sugar is consumed. Sugarcane was originally domesticated in New Guinea, sugar was first produced from sugarcane in India, and sugar spread into Europe through Persia.

 

Many Europeans, including the English, French, and the Dutch, created sugar plantations across the Atlantic. These plantation owners brought millions of enslaved Africans to the Atlantic to work in dangerous sugar production. With abolition, indentured Asian people replaced enslaved people working on sugar plantations in the Atlantic.

 

In the early modern era, sugar consumption in Europe grew quickly. Sugar was commonly used to sweeten or preserve foods and was also sometimes used in medicine. Elizabeth Dyke used sugar in medicinal recipes treating consumption, to purge phlegm or choler, and in recipes for cakes and various desserts.