Before sugarcane likely arrived in India from Papua New Guinea some 3,000-4,000 years ago, honey was the primary sweetener. Early on, people either chewed raw cane for its sweetness or used it to feed pigs.
Sikander (Alexander) mentions of honey wielding reeds, but not made by bees that he tasted in India. There are also mentions of sugarcane juices in many ancient texts. That was the first contact of the West with sugarcane, which would one day make them rich. For now, Alexander will spread the knowledge in Europe and Middle East.
The English word “sugar” and the Arabic word “sukkar” both stem from the Sanskrit term “shārkārā,” which describes the granular nature of sugar. This is also where the Hindi word “shakkar” comes from. Another Indian term, “khand” (meaning “fragmented”), also referred to sugar and later became “candy” in English, after Arabs and Chinese learned sugar-making techniques from India.
So, if we had our own terms like Shakkar, why do we sometimes say Cheeni or Misri?
While India developed methods for crystallizing sugar (clear evidence of this comes from the Gupta period in the 4th century AD, though it likely existed centuries earlier), this early Indian sugar was typically brown. The Chinese, however, found a way to refine it into a crystalline white form. When this refined white sugar made its way back to India from China, Indians started calling it Cheeni, literally meaning “Chinese.”
Misri, on the other hand, refers to large crystalline sugar. It’s probably derived from “Miṣŗ,” the Hindi/Urdu word for Egypt. Did some variety of sugar came back from Egypt later? Was it made of Palm that we call Tall Mishri?
Indian sailors and Buddhist monks were instrumental in spreading sugar-making knowledge. In the 7th century, Chinese envoys even visited India during King Harsha’s rule to learn cultivation and refining techniques, leading to China establishing its own sugarcane farming. From India, Iran, and China, sugar became a common ingredient. The same sugar will come back as white Cheeni.
Later, Crusaders returning to Europe from the Holy Land brought “sweet salt” (sugar) with them. Alexander encounter was forgotten by this time. By the 12th century, Venice began producing sugar for export to Europe.
The 16th century marked a significant turning point as sugar cultivation and manufacturing spread to the West Indies and the Americas with European colonization. This expansion became deeply intertwined with the horrific practice of slavery. The immense labor required for sugar production led to a massive reliance on enslaved people, particularly in the Caribbean and Brazil, driving the transatlantic slave trade. This created a grim cycle: sugar produced by enslaved labor was sold for profit, and that money was then used to buy more enslaved people to produce even more sugar. Long after Alexander, the sugar trade was making Europe rich.
The demand for spirits, especially rum, also significantly influenced European colonization of the Americas, as sugar became the most important crop in the Caribbean. Interestingly, the word “alcohol” itself has Arabic origins, initially referring to a cosmetic powder. It later came to mean distilled alcoholic beverages because Arab alchemists developed the distillation process.
Like sugar production techniques, Europeans learned about distillation from Arabs. It’s also worth noting that while the transatlantic slave trade of Africans is widely discussed, Arabs also engaged in slavery, including the enslavement of white Europeans.
The over use and commercialisation of sugar have now given it a bad name. Imagine, once it was used in India as a Ayurvedic medicine. It was used as energy booster and for better digestive system.
“Tere muh me ghee shakkar” is an Indian idiom. You’d say it to someone who has just said something positive or made a hopeful prediction, essentially wishing that their words come true. The phrase literally translates to “May your mouth have ghee and sugar,” symbolizing sweetness and good fortune.
Many be we need a bit of shakkar back in our lives, as long as its not too refined.
