1 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Annerees, I'm Lauren 2 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: Vogel bamb This podcast is food stuff. Yes, hopefully you 3 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: know that. I mean you could have come here due 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,319 Speaker 1: to very strange events. I don't know. Yeah, we don't 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 1: know what in your life led you to this moment, 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: but we're happy you're here. Yeah, absolutely, thank you. Um 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: we know what led us here because last time on 8 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: the podcast, we were talking about sugar and you, or 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: like sugar in your health really um or like really 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: the health of you and generations of other humans who 11 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: have probably been negatively affected by the sugar industries propaganda 12 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:49,160 Speaker 1: like campaign that placed nutritional blame for obesity and related 13 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: conditions on fats instead of sugars. It was an hour 14 00:00:53,840 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: long extravaganza. It was so fun for everyone involved. Uh 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: So today we wanted to back the proverbial truck up 16 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: and talk more about the the science and also the 17 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: history of sugar, which isn't really less depressing. No happy Monday, Annie, 18 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 1: thank you, happy you listener. I hope that did not 19 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: turn you off. We will do a happy episode someday 20 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: in the future. Yea, we have plans for some we do. Yeah, 21 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:31,919 Speaker 1: I think there's there's bound to be more like cauliflower 22 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: that are just full of like joy and unexpected fractals. 23 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 1: First off, to specify, the last time that we were 24 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: talking about sugar, we were talking about a few different 25 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: sugars that are added to manufactured foods, but we were 26 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: sort of mainly talking about sucros, which is the white 27 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: crystalline table sugar that you are probably familiar with, unless 28 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: you are very new to this planet, in which case, uh, 29 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: welcome and we're glad that you found our podcast. Also, 30 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: congratulations on learning English early in life. Yeah, it's pretty impressive. 31 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: Yeah it is man. English is hard. Producing sugar is 32 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: also hard, and and thus its history is wrought with 33 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: some really tragic human rights abuses. So before we get 34 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,519 Speaker 1: into that, uh, let's talk about the modern production, which 35 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: has been made a lot easier by a lot of 36 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: really incredible technology. Most players do have some sugar of 37 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: one kind or another in them, but many don't have 38 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: enough to extract it volume that The two notable exceptions 39 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: are sugarcane and sugar beets, which is where we get 40 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,839 Speaker 1: a majority of our commercially produced table sugar from um 41 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: and you can find sugarcane which is tall tropical grass 42 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: ranging from eight to twenty four feet or two point 43 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: four to seven point three meters in warm tropical areas. 44 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: It looks a little bit like bamboo kind of yeah, 45 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: which is not the image I had in my mind 46 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: at all, But it always reminds me of bamboom, mostly 47 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: when it's like hanging out in a grocery store, but 48 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,119 Speaker 1: not that I see bamboo grosart. It's about to say, 49 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: where are you doing your shopping? Weren't The Caribbean Islands 50 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: and Brazil are the two places, the two main places 51 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: that sugar cane likes to grow sugar beets Howebrican weather, 52 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: cooler climates and grow in places like Japan or Europe, 53 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: And they're they're totally like like just just in scare 54 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: quotes um high sugar cultivars of the beats that you 55 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: see in grocery stores. This root vegetable that's really sweet. 56 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: I'm not sure I've ever seen either of these things 57 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: in grocery stores, but I probably haven't. Just right over 58 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: my head, I've never seen a seen a sugar beat 59 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: in a grocery store, but I've seen regular beats. Sugar 60 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: beats look a lot like them. Okay, that makes sense 61 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: that the name. Yeah, I do enjoy beats. Yes, getting 62 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: sugar from sugarcane is is a difficult process because it's 63 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: like bamboo. Um, so you have to you have to 64 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: harvest the stocks. These days, that's done with a mechanical 65 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: harvester vehicle that's partially autonomous and probably runs on GPS coordinates. 66 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: GPS coordinates are also used to plant the rows of 67 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: the cane. Wow. I love this. Yeah, technology has come 68 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: a long way. I just like did not even envision 69 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: Yes being involved in this at all. Right, ah man um, 70 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 1: even though it's partially autonomous. According to an interview that 71 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: was done by ABC Australia, the harvester drivers really do 72 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: have to pay sharp attention um pun intended. One Mr 73 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:36,599 Speaker 1: Ross Stephen, a third gen cane farmer, said quote, oh, 74 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: we've cut up all sorts of things, all sorts of 75 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: fun things. That is slightly terrifying. And I can just 76 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: imagine he said it in a very jolly Australian accent. 77 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 1: I know, I'm sure I would have tried, but I 78 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: really I can't do Australian at all. It would just 79 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: sound British. Um. Okay, so once you've got the stocks, 80 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: you you take them to a probably on site or 81 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: extremely nearby plant for processing. UM. By processing, I mean 82 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,359 Speaker 1: you pulverize them, you press them, You add water and 83 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: lime like the mineral lime, not the fruit lime um 84 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: and and thus create as much juice from the stocks 85 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: as possible. The remaining fibers tissue might be kind of 86 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,840 Speaker 1: like recycled as furnace fuel at the processing plant. And 87 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: then UM, well, okay, either either at this point or 88 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: later or both, you're gonna want to purify the juice 89 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: to get out any dirt, bugs, remaining fibers, whatever mud 90 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: um and that might involve fiscal processes like filtration, in 91 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: which you filter solids out of a liquid with screens 92 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: and or force like a like a centerfuge, and or 93 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: by just kind of waiting for the floaty bits and 94 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: the sinky bits to float or sink, depending on you 95 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: know which one they are. UM. It can also involve 96 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: chemical processes like UH washing with with more line carbon 97 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,279 Speaker 1: dioxide phosphoric acid. Basically, the idea here is that these 98 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: particles will grab onto molecules in the liquid sugar that 99 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: are not sugar, thus making it easier to filter those 100 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: things out. UM. This also creates a byproduct that can 101 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: be used as a fertilizer for the cane fields. The 102 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: sugar industry is so full of amazing byproducts. It's it's 103 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: I get I get excited about byproducts. We need something 104 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,239 Speaker 1: to get excited about in this episode. So that's great, okay. 105 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: So to get sugar really white, you then bleach it 106 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: with the granular carbon or bone char bone shar being 107 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,279 Speaker 1: basically granulated carbon that's made with the bones of your foes, 108 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: I mean like animal bones probably that have been superheated 109 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: to reduce them to carbon, like like crazy burnt bone toast. UM. 110 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: All this refinement may happen later on in the process 111 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 1: at an off site plant, maybe even in another country. UM. 112 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: The specific technologies that are used for refinement are proprietary, 113 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: proprietary and protected market secrets. UM. Some companies choose to 114 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: forego most of this purification and sell their crystallized product 115 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: as raw or terminado sugar. Speaking of UM, you're eventually 116 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: going to want to turn this juice into you know, 117 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: crystals of sugar, so you boil it down, UM, seat 118 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: it with already formed sugar crystals, which spur the crystallization 119 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: process and then use a centerfuge to separate the crystals 120 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: from the remaining syrup, which is molasses. It's not quite 121 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: the high quality molasses that you would buy in a 122 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: store to eat with your face. Um. It can it 123 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: can be refined to or you can use it as 124 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: part of feedstock for for animals. Interesting. Yeah, you can 125 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: control the size of the crystals that you get by 126 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: playing with the time and the temperature while the crystals 127 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: are forming slash drying, and if you're making powdered sugar, 128 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: you just pulverize normal O granulated sugar and add like 129 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: a wee bit of corn starch like three of the 130 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: total weight in order to prevent clumping and to get 131 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: brown sugar molasses or cane. Last, the syrup is added 132 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 1: back in towards the end of the sugar refining process. 133 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: It gives brown sugar a stronger flavor and better moisture 134 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: retaining properties, which is the main reason why it hardens 135 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: when you don't store it properly. According to Lauren, I've 136 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: never done this, but if you you could either keep 137 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: it an airtight container, which I don't, or you can 138 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: toss the slice of fresh bread or a couple of 139 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: apple wedges in the bag. The sugar preserves the apple 140 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: wedges so they don't get like moldy and terrible. You 141 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: can you can try it. And if you if you 142 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: try it and you ruin a bag of brown sugar, Annie, 143 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: I will replace that bag of brown sugar. I unfortunately 144 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: cannot extend the same offer to all of y'all out 145 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:45,839 Speaker 1: there in podcast land. Oh too bad, bad. This is 146 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: an experiment I'm going to try post taste. Yes, it's excellent. 147 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: Oh man, that's actually impressive because getting Annie to go 148 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 1: grocery shopping is that's true. I haven't been in four weeks, 149 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: you guys. Oh my goodness. Experiment is going to continue. 150 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: I think I can make it too weeks. Anie is 151 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: dedicated to this cause I love it. I go like 152 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: every day. I go like three times a day sometimes anyway, Um, okay, 153 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: sugar beets sugar beats, because sugar cane and sugar beats 154 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: sugar beets are basically the same process. It's actually a 155 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: little bit easier. Um, you harvest the beats, you cut 156 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: off the stems and the leaves, and you can either 157 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: feed those to animals or plow them right back into 158 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: the land as fertilizer. At a again nearby or on 159 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,680 Speaker 1: site facility, you wash and slice the beets, then cook 160 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: the slices to help pull out the sugar and create 161 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: a juice, and then purify the juice as desired um. 162 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,679 Speaker 1: Although beat sugar is naturally white, so you won't need 163 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: to bleach it with carbon or bone char, for which 164 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: reason some vegans try to go with beat sugar over 165 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: cane sugar because the cane sugars that are treated with 166 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: with bone char are not labeled as such. So yeah, yeah, 167 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: uh so yeah then uh, then you you've do the 168 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: crystallization thing, the separation from molasses thing, and the final 169 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: processing thing, and that's how you make sugar. In an 170 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: extraordinarily tiny nutshell. There there are if you, if y'all 171 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: are really curious, there are billions of pages of technical 172 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: manuals about all of the different specific equipment that is 173 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,679 Speaker 1: used to do this and like how exactly it works. 174 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,959 Speaker 1: And it's one of those moments that I'm like really 175 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: impressed by human ingenuity and industry and also just desperately bored. Yeah. 176 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,479 Speaker 1: At the same time, there are a lot of diagrams 177 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: that had very many like lines and pieces. Yeah. I 178 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: was just looking at the picture completely overwhelmed. Oh yeah, 179 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 1: yeah that's I'm like, oh so it means you boil it. Okay, Okay, 180 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:54,439 Speaker 1: I get but I understand that word. And yeah, so 181 00:10:54,600 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: that takes us um into our history portion h. History 182 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: doesn't actually know exactly where sugarcane originally came from, but 183 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:07,840 Speaker 1: we'll give you a couple of history's ideas about it 184 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 1: right after this break for a word from our sponsor, 185 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: and we're back. We're back, and we've got Transatlantic accents 186 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:28,200 Speaker 1: were just as surprise as you are. Um okay, alright, 187 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: so um, so, no one really knows exactly where sugarcane 188 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 1: came from. It was definitely growing wild in Polynesia or 189 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: Southeast Asia or both. Um. A lot of hearsay says 190 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: that it was originally cultivated in what's now New Guinea 191 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: between like eight thousand to five thousand BC, somewhere in there. Um. 192 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 1: I love the use of the word hearsay here, Like 193 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: it's still like, no, I heard Nolan Dylan talking in 194 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: the kitchen and that it was New Guinea. That's sugar cane. 195 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:10,079 Speaker 1: That's actually I suppose in a lot of other offices 196 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: that would be completely ridiculous. But here around here, you 197 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: just never know the realm of possibility. Water cooler talk game, 198 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: how the first on point very interesting. It's it's really 199 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 1: intense sometimes um so so people people may have been 200 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: using um reedier forms of sugar cane is a construction material, 201 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: um and then growing like more tender juicy or sugarcane 202 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: to just kind of chew on um as a fun 203 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 1: tasty pastime snack, to chew on some sugar cane snack, um, 204 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: lovely pastime. And then around five hundred, India improved on 205 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,439 Speaker 1: this chewing method by pounding or grinding the sugar cane 206 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: to extract the juice and then boiling it down into 207 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: rough crystals, or sometimes they did this by drying the 208 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: sugarcane juice in the sun. Because of the consistency of sugar, 209 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: both the Sanskrit and Chinese words for sugar mean gravel 210 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: or gravel sugar, respectively, which when I was in China, 211 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,480 Speaker 1: one of my favorite deserts I had was called in 212 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 1: English the translation peanut butter ice gravel. And now like 213 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: I've been on the search for it since I got 214 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: back years I've been looking for it but now that 215 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: I know this, it was probably just peanut butter and 216 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: a ton of sugar. Like it was so good. Was 217 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: it was it frozen? It was yeah, kind of like 218 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: a smoothie, but it had it had a sand like texture, 219 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,079 Speaker 1: So it must have been just just been amazing, so 220 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: much horrifying amount of sugar and peanut butter. But now 221 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 1: I know, I mean it sounds delicious. It was so good. 222 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: I try it, see if I can recreate it one time, 223 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: and then now that I know it, probably to get 224 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: that texture, I guess like like like non baked, like 225 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: like no bake peanut butter cookies are about the same thing, 226 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: Like it's really just you just mix flour and peanut 227 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: butter and sugar together, and those are certainly delicious. Yeah, 228 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:22,920 Speaker 1: it was kind of bumped me out because the way 229 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: they're marketed or people talk about them like it's some 230 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: kind of healthy snack you can have, And then I 231 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: go to look up the recipe and like, well can 232 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 1: I eat have your exercise? Wait a minute, this is 233 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 1: all sugar. Anyway, back to sugarcane. There is a legend 234 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: in India that sugarcane is a leftover luxury from when 235 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: a famous stage of ancient India. Bees sure, I'm probably 236 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: butchering it. This translates to friend of the universe. Supposedly, 237 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: he created a temporary paradise for Trishnuku. The Raja wanted 238 00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: to go to heaven in his own body, but was 239 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: and ied by the leader of the celestial realms inja Um. 240 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 1: And when the temporary paradise was destroyed, sugarcane was left 241 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: behind to be enjoyed in the mortal realm. I see, yes, 242 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: which I thought was an interesting yeah, interesting tale. Yeah. 243 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:20,520 Speaker 1: Another legend has to do with the soldiers of someone. Yes, 244 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: we found a lot of differing. It seemed to be 245 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: either one of two fellows. So either soldiers of Alexander 246 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: the Great are possibly Persian Emperor Darius also the Great 247 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: of course great dudes back then that's what they thought anyway. Uh. 248 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: These soldiers stopped near the Indus River and described quote 249 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: reads which produce honey without bees um. Whichever great fella 250 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: soldiers these were, They brought some back of this re 251 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 1: that is like honey to Europe around five hundred three 252 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: hundred BC, but it was rare, exotic food, and those 253 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: that produced and traded it became quite wealthy. UM. As 254 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: Arabs invaded Persia in the seventh century CE and then 255 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: spread through the Middle East and North African and Spain, 256 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: they brought sugarcane with them. Egyptians under their rule worked 257 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: on better methods of crystallization and refinement, and it became 258 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: an even more prized crop, so prized that the Arabs 259 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: brought East African slaves into the Persian Gulf to work 260 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: with it. Yea, it goes back longer than I ever knew. UM. 261 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: Although interestingly UM in the late ninth century, the conditions 262 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: on sugar plantations were part of the cause of a 263 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: huge slave rebellion in Iraq under Arab rules. Still at 264 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: the time UM fighting went on between the slaves and 265 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: the Arabs for fifteen years, and some history and credit 266 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: this rebellion for shifting slavery in the air world away 267 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,160 Speaker 1: from plantation work. Whether or not that's a good thing, 268 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: it's still slavery. So it's not UM. That just just 269 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: s baseline. It's bad UM, but but but an interesting 270 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: historical note for sure. UM also interesting to history as 271 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: sugarcane was brought into the drier parts of the Middle East. 272 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: The the the industry demanded better irrigation technologies to be developed. 273 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: So uh, sugar. Sugar has a hand in a really 274 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 1: surprising number of of like world historical developments that I 275 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: just never knew about. Yeah. Uh. Western Europe didn't really 276 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: catch on to sugar until soldiers started returning from the 277 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: Crusades with what they called sweet salt in the eleventh century. 278 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:51,160 Speaker 1: It was also tremendously expensive luxury uh, and it would 279 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,879 Speaker 1: remain such for the next couple hundreds of years. Uh. 280 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:58,160 Speaker 1: The invention of a new press in the thirteen nineties 281 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,199 Speaker 1: doubled the juice that could be extracted from sugarcane, and 282 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: this more efficient production method led sugarcane plantations to spread 283 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: through what's now southern Spain and Portugal, and then to 284 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores, all islands off 285 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:20,399 Speaker 1: the coast by fourteen And then and then incomes a 286 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 1: dude who always improved situations read sarcasm, Christopher Columbus, who 287 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:32,880 Speaker 1: stopped in the Canary Islands and was introduced to sugarcane 288 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: and took some with him to the New World. And 289 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 1: apparently there's a whole love story involved here. He was 290 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:42,640 Speaker 1: only supposed to stay for four days, but he ended 291 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: up staying for months. Fling is probably a better word. 292 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 1: I doubt it was really love involved. But what do 293 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: I know. I don't know. I don't know what Christopher 294 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:54,159 Speaker 1: Columbus was getting up to. Um. It's really interesting to 295 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: me that that, like the seventy year gap, Like if 296 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: if sugarcane had not started being grown in the Canary Island, 297 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: like essentially right before Columbus hit there, Yeah, then we 298 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:07,639 Speaker 1: might never have known how well it grows in the 299 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,120 Speaker 1: in the New World. Yeah. I mean probably we would 300 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:12,199 Speaker 1: have because it was really big around a lot of 301 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: other populations at the time too. But yeah, but the 302 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 1: timing is very I don't know if fort the timing 303 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: worked out. The timing did a thing, there was timing. 304 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: You interpret as you as you will. Yes, And speaking 305 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: of time, around this time, Venice was the seat of 306 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: sugar distribution in Europe. I did not know this, but 307 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,439 Speaker 1: I found it super interesting. Yeah, yeah, it was. It 308 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,439 Speaker 1: was actually refined and shipped from there basically basically everywhere. Yeah. 309 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 1: And the improvement in the production process, the ease of 310 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: cultivating sugarcane in the warm climates of the New World, 311 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: and the slave labor used to do the workmant that 312 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean trade would eventually lose its monopoly and most 313 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: of its sugar power. But Venice was like this superpower 314 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: largely do and I've never heard about that at all. 315 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,680 Speaker 1: I mean, I guess I could have kind of inferred 316 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: it from what I know about Venetian candy making at 317 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: the time. Um, candy making was was real big in Venice, 318 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: and like yeah, um so, oh man, we should totally 319 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 1: do like historical candy episodes. Those are like like marshmallows 320 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: and like sponge sugar candy are really beautiful and great. 321 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: Yeah we have two episodes about how terrible sugar is, 322 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:39,680 Speaker 1: but then so many candy episodes and it's wonderful. Yeah, 323 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:43,159 Speaker 1: forget all that bad stuff. We don't. Oh no, except 324 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: I need to talk about the bad stuff now. Like 325 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 1: any was saying, Um, the the slave labor that was 326 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: that would be used in the New World was kind 327 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: of gutted the Mediterranean trade and it was so much slavery. Um. 328 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: Starting in fifteen o five, over ten million African and 329 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: and largely West African people would be forced into labor 330 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: among the sugar plantations that were so quickly spreading throughout 331 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:13,879 Speaker 1: the New World. Yeah, ten ten mills, ten million. I 332 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:17,280 Speaker 1: mean they were there for tobacco too, and cotton, I guess. 333 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:19,679 Speaker 1: But but it was but but but sugar was was 334 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: really the biggest cash crop. Sugar was really powerful at 335 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: the time. Soon after Columbus introduced sugarcane to the Caribbean, 336 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:38,439 Speaker 1: the Portuguese began producing sugar cane in Brazil. By fifteen forty, 337 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: the northern coast of Brazil had eight hundred sugar mills, 338 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: and by fifteen fifty the New World had somewhere in 339 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,359 Speaker 1: the ballpark of three thousand sugar mills. And that created 340 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: a need for materials and specialized jobs that helped catalyze 341 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: the start of the Industrial Revolution. Yeah, because it was 342 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: all all of this cast iron machinery, these gears and 343 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: lever systems and axles and other great stuff like that. 344 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: That uh yeah, that would that would do great things. 345 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: It was also the key to maintaining the slave trade. 346 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: Historians call it the trade triangle. Um Africans were enslaved 347 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: and brought to the New World, where they produced sugar, 348 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,120 Speaker 1: which was sent to Europe as a cash crop, which 349 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 1: allowed the Europeans the capital to go buy more humans 350 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:34,679 Speaker 1: to enslave trade triangle. Mm hmm, we're making terrible faces, right, yeah, yeah, 351 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: it's there's there's nothing I wish I think in these 352 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:44,800 Speaker 1: moments of of check Bryant, because yeah, I know what 353 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: would Chuck do? Because he has this amazing way of 354 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:51,679 Speaker 1: of he's He's just got this perfectly like sympathetic and 355 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: straightforward like thing that he does. And I'm like, how 356 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: are you so good, Chuck? How are you so good? 357 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: I'm my I mean shaking him. Not that I would 358 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: ever shake Chuck. I don't think he would like it, 359 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: but he'd be like straightforward about how he didn't like it. 360 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: It would be so kind. And there's a lot to 361 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 1: learn from Chuck Bryant. There certainly is, anyway, Yes, Okay, 362 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 1: back to sugar. The Dutch brought sugarcane to the Caribbean 363 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: soon after, kick starting the sugar Revolution in the region, 364 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: which took place between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Uh 365 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,280 Speaker 1: and and as I was mentioning earlier um commodities including 366 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: like tobacco and cotton, mostly tobacco I think from from 367 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: outside of Europe accounted for a third of Europe's economy. 368 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: At the time. Um, but sugar was the greatest part 369 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:50,400 Speaker 1: of that. Yeah. Um that that that is how part 370 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: powerful it was. Yeah, it's kind of it's crazy to think. Yeah, 371 00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:00,320 Speaker 1: but we take it for granted today. Yeah. Just throw, 372 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: just throw more sugar, just just handfuls of sugar everywhere. 373 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: And historians attribute the increase of the focus on monoculture, 374 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:12,960 Speaker 1: the increase of plantations, and the increased use of African 375 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: slaves who were thought to be resistant to yellow fever 376 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: and malaria in part to this revolution, its sugar revolution. Yes, yes, 377 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: the industrial Revolution, although fine related parallel. Yeah, the Caribbean 378 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: took the top spot when it came to sugar production 379 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: and all that technology, um was was really literally paying off. 380 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,719 Speaker 1: The Caribbean plantations were the first to add consumable molasses 381 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: and also rum to their byproducts. It was also during 382 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,680 Speaker 1: this time that the English Civil War led to the 383 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: indentured servitude of thousands of Irish Catholics in um in 384 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: sugar and tobacco plantations throughout the Caribbean. Records suggest that 385 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,440 Speaker 1: these uh servants quote unquote were really closer to political 386 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:00,159 Speaker 1: prisoners who were transported overseas on accusations of treason and 387 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: that they were treated as slaves. Um. After Oliver Cromwell, 388 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 1: things got better period um. But but but in in 389 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,880 Speaker 1: the Caribbean for for for for uh Irish folk for sure. Um. 390 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: After after Cromwell was out, both Irish and English people 391 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: began migrating to the islands of their own free will, 392 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,639 Speaker 1: even sometimes um to work their way into landownership, partially 393 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: on sugar plantations and all of that aforementioned technology. By 394 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty, the price on sugar began declining slightly, from please, sir, 395 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 1: take my gold for an equal weight of sugar to 396 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: something at a more reasonable price point. It was supposedly 397 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:51,959 Speaker 1: called white gold by British colonists around that time. We 398 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 1: weren't getting around when we said it was a luxury. 399 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: It was quite expensive. But as the numbers of Europeans 400 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: using sugar in their tea, coffee, jams, jellies, candy, cocoa 401 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 1: and other processed foods rose, the greater the demand for 402 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: sugar production, and the Caribbean sugar industry responded by increasing 403 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 1: the amount produced, turning out of the sugar consumed by 404 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: European customers. Yeah, they came up with new ways to 405 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,359 Speaker 1: produce sugar faster and better, like using animal manure to 406 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: grow their crop and advancing their mill technology, which sounds 407 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,639 Speaker 1: like duh at this point, but at the time it 408 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: was like, oh uh yeah, let's try this. Wow. Yeah. 409 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,280 Speaker 1: Like most products, the price of sugar fluctuated, shooting up 410 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: during the Dutch Revolt and the Napoleonic Wars, but as 411 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,160 Speaker 1: larger plantations cropped up in European colonies in the Caribbean, 412 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: prices generally fell, and by the eighteenth century pretty much 413 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: everybody was eating sugar. It became viewed almost as a necessity. 414 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: At the time, most folks put it in the tea. Uh, 415 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: it came in this coal. Yeah. Yeah, you had to 416 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: use plyers called sugar nips. Sugar nips break off pieces. 417 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,600 Speaker 1: I love this. Yeah, I've found some pictures of it. 418 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,200 Speaker 1: It look kind of like ice cream coves. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, 419 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 1: I've I've, you can. You can purchase them in stores. 420 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 1: They're they're still sold in like like Latin markets sometimes. 421 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: Um and uh yeah, I've i've. I've had one before 422 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: and was like, what do I do with this? Does 423 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,679 Speaker 1: it still come with a tool? Can you get these flyers? 424 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 1: I didn't it certainly did not come with a tool 425 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 1: because I was like, I guess this is I guess 426 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,920 Speaker 1: I have to hit this with something very heavy. Is 427 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: it really hard? It's really hard? Oh yeah, yeah, like 428 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:44,720 Speaker 1: totally solid anyway, yes, anyway. The lower price and sugar 429 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: also contributed to their eyes of businesses like bakeries and 430 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: jam makers jam ORNs. If jam ors is not the 431 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 1: correct term, then I think it should be from now on. 432 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: I would love to go to a jam I know, right, 433 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:01,400 Speaker 1: Oh man, any jammering out there that want to want 434 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: to let us come hang out, let me know. I'm 435 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,400 Speaker 1: sure there are we could Oh man, okay, jam episode 436 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,120 Speaker 1: totally okay, all right. Um. The dropping price was also 437 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: partially due to governments like Britain relaxing their taxes on 438 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: sugar in the eighteen hundreds. Um. The taxes on sugar 439 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: importing um had been crazy high because it was super 440 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:26,040 Speaker 1: profitable for governments to do so. And why not Britain 441 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,239 Speaker 1: may or may not have been known for taxing a 442 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: lot of folks. Yeah, speaking of um, some historians attribute 443 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 1: American independence partially to the sugar trade. Uh. British plantation 444 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 1: owners you see in the Caribbean were so vastly outnumbered 445 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: by the human people who they were forcing into terrible 446 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,560 Speaker 1: labor um, and the business was so profitable to the government, 447 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,239 Speaker 1: especially before those taxes were lifted, that British soldiers were 448 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 1: sent to maintain the status quo on the plantations um. 449 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: Some historians argue that if Britain had not been distracted 450 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: with protecting the of your trade, a few important battles 451 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: of the American Revolution could have swung their way. Wow, 452 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: I mean you America love sugar. So we've been we've 453 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: been talking all this time about the sugar cane, but 454 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: what about the sugar beat. Well, I'll tell you all 455 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: about that once we get back from this short break. 456 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 1: So the sugar beats. We're gonna start with Andreas Marraf, 457 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: a German chemist. He identified the sugar beat as a 458 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: source of sucros in and his student friends A shar 459 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: took this discovery and with the help of the King 460 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:52,400 Speaker 1: of Prussia, Frederick William the Third started Yeah I know, okay, 461 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: started a sugar beat factory in eighteen o one. It 462 00:29:56,280 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: never made a profit. Yeah, and it was just droid. 463 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: Sometime during the Napoleonic Wars, which just for reference in 464 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: case you didn't know, took place between eighteen o two 465 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: eighteen fifteen, and speaking of the Napoleonic Wars, as I 466 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: feel like we do in every other episode around the 467 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 1: same time, Napoleon refused sugar imports from Frances, then enemy 468 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: the British in thirteen and instead he issued a challenge 469 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,760 Speaker 1: to scientist and chemist to find an alternate way to 470 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: make sugar man. Yeah, so they would have depended on 471 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,560 Speaker 1: these lousy Brits. So Napoleon is basically responsible for sugar 472 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: beats being a thing. Yeah, go Napoleon, all right, yeah, 473 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: you know. He he set aside seventy nine thousand acres 474 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: of land for the cultivation of sugar beats, and after 475 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: his defeat and Waterloo and the lifting of the blockade, 476 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: all but one sugar beat factory closed, unable to compete 477 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: with the cheaper prices of sugarcane derived sugar from the Caribbean. 478 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: But France put some protectionist tariffs in place to give 479 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: their sugar beat industry more of a fighting chance, and 480 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: sustaining the sugar beat industry was a major drain to 481 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 1: the French treasury until something happened to even out the 482 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:25,360 Speaker 1: playing field a bit. The abolition of slavery. Huh, okay, I, 483 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: since we need to hop back to the Caribbean, you 484 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: are correct. So, like we said earlier, it's estimated that 485 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 1: millions of slaves were brought to the sugar plantations of 486 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: the Caribbean and Brazil. The harvest and cultivation of sugar 487 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 1: was not easy work. Death rates succeeded birth rates in 488 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 1: slave population. Um. As you can imagine, there's not much 489 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:50,680 Speaker 1: in the way of healthcare. Nope. UM. On many of 490 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: the smaller islands, four died each year, the leading causes 491 00:31:54,800 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: being malnutrition and overwork. And uh. They also had really 492 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: poor housing and living conditions. Just obviously when Britain first 493 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 1: made the slave trade illegal in eighteen or seven, abolishing 494 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,600 Speaker 1: slavery in the eighteen thirties. In the United States following 495 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: soon after, slave labor was replaced with contract labor, and 496 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: there was a push for technologies that would reduce labor cost. Okay, well, 497 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 1: so they're so, yeah, that's cool, I mean technologies. Yeah, yeah, 498 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: that's true. Um, and sugar cane depleted so very quickly, 499 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: which meant that manufacturers looked to build these new technologies 500 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: they were developing on larger islands with fresh soil, including Cuba, 501 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: which became the richest country in the Caribbean in the 502 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. It didn't have any mountains, so most of 503 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: the land they could devote to crops and the dominant 504 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: one with sugar. Yeah, Cubas dominance and sugar production continued 505 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: until the Soviet unions collapse in the twentieth century. Uh 506 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: And technological advancement in developed countries means that sugar refinement 507 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: doesn't depend nearly as much on physical labor and manpower. 508 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: But in developing countries, the manufacturer sugar relies on impoverished 509 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: and minimally paid workers and what some call a form 510 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: of modern day slavery. So uh, yeah, some improvements some 511 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: a few here and there. Um. I also, I guess 512 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 1: an improvement is that we have a bunch of sugars 513 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: made from corn syrup. Now, yes, all that hyric dis 514 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: corn syrup you hear so much about, yeah, which is 515 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: a liquid sweetener derived from corn that rose and prominence 516 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: as industries tried to find a way to get around 517 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,160 Speaker 1: sugar tariffs. Because I kind of briefly touched on this 518 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 1: last episode, but a lot of developed countries have protectionist 519 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: taxes and tariffs sugar is really highly taxed. Actually yeah 520 00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:13,280 Speaker 1: still yeah, so as a way to get around these taxes, 521 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: they high fruit toast corn syrup kind of became more popular, 522 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 1: and then all this health stuff came out about that, 523 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: which I read some things that sugar might have been 524 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,719 Speaker 1: involved in that too, which I was confused by. I 525 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: thought they would. I don't know, they related, right, right, Well, 526 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:38,600 Speaker 1: but but it's a different name, so so, so obviously 527 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,840 Speaker 1: it's a completely that the fact that it's chemically very close, 528 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: does you know, doesn't mean anything. Yeah, I suppose when 529 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:55,319 Speaker 1: it's got a different name that you can blame stuff on, right, Um. Yeah, 530 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: so so that's yeah cool, I mean, I mean, I 531 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 1: I don't know. Um, it's sugar. In addition to be 532 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:08,479 Speaker 1: to being heavily taxed from from from outside importers, which 533 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:12,319 Speaker 1: is what importers are. Um uh, it's also heavily subsidized 534 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: in most countries in the world that they grow it. 535 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,960 Speaker 1: So people are really excited about producing it because they 536 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: can sell it at such a good profit to other places, 537 00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:24,800 Speaker 1: and because it's literally addictive, either psychologically or physically we're 538 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:31,480 Speaker 1: not sure which. Um, and everyone likes it. Yeah, that's 539 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: that's true. So that's so that's kind of the story 540 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:42,480 Speaker 1: of sugar. Yes, a lot of twist and turns, technological advances. 541 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:47,040 Speaker 1: Very surprised it was involved in the American Revolution potentially. Yeah, 542 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,960 Speaker 1: all of these politics are are what really really shocked 543 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: me about this episode. Um I I had. I mean, 544 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 1: I I knew obviously that it had all of these 545 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: awful ties to slavery and and that the communities in 546 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:04,759 Speaker 1: the Americas were deeply affected by um by the cultivation 547 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: of it here, but I don't think I knew what 548 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:13,400 Speaker 1: a big world development role it had played, how powerful 549 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:16,439 Speaker 1: it was before we totally wrap up here. Quick word 550 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:22,319 Speaker 1: on artificial sweeteners because we thought you'd had enough depressing 551 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: stuff with this two part sugar episode. But be wary 552 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:30,400 Speaker 1: of sugar free products that use the artificial stuff because 553 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:37,000 Speaker 1: science indicates that they're generally pretty terrible for you too. Yea. Yeah, 554 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 1: so in avoiding sugar, try not to choose something worse 555 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,879 Speaker 1: than sugar. Yeah, and not all of them, I mean 556 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,359 Speaker 1: the science on some of them. Yes, absolutely, I think 557 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:49,799 Speaker 1: that we could. We could probably while we're just just 558 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: willy nilly adding episode ideas to our tour list, we 559 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,239 Speaker 1: could definitely do like a lot of the development of 560 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 1: artificial sweeteners is super fascinating because a lot of it 561 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:04,120 Speaker 1: is accidental. Yeah, or like government involvement. Yeah, it's like 562 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:10,640 Speaker 1: one or the other. It's either like oops or like yeah, um, 563 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:15,680 Speaker 1: fascinating stories. Well, maybe we'll put that off. Yeah, maybe 564 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:18,319 Speaker 1: we'll think a bit lighter. Talk about kittens. Oh, this 565 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:20,840 Speaker 1: is a food show. I can't say that any know, 566 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,960 Speaker 1: we will never talk about kittens on this show. They'll 567 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:31,359 Speaker 1: talk about I don't what's a happy thing? Um, I'm 568 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 1: draw out a blank. I don't know want Well, you 569 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:35,960 Speaker 1: know I'm not drawing a blank, but I hesitate to 570 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 1: say anything because I researched it yet. Okay, and I 571 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: who knows that it could be pineapple could be super depressing. 572 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,040 Speaker 1: I don't know. Right, We'll just keep talking about cauliflower, 573 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 1: over and over, every aspect of cauliflower. Cauliflower show. Yeah, 574 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:53,760 Speaker 1: if you if you have any ideas for us about 575 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:57,839 Speaker 1: maybe happy topics, maybe super depressing topics, you can send 576 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,800 Speaker 1: us an email, right. Our email and us is food 577 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,320 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com. And we also 578 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:05,839 Speaker 1: have a Twitter in Instagram. Yeah, I know what both 579 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: of them are this time. The Instagram is at food 580 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:11,920 Speaker 1: stuff and the Twitter is at food Stuff hs W 581 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:15,439 Speaker 1: because how Stuff Works is our parent company and hs 582 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 1: W is an abbreviation of that. At food Stuff HSW 583 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Yes uh, thank you to our audio producer 584 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,880 Speaker 1: Noel Brown. Get in touch with us. We hope to 585 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,359 Speaker 1: hear from you, and we hope that lots more good 586 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,480 Speaker 1: things are coming your way