Concept of sugars - Definition

From the Sanskrit "sharkara" with the meaning of "arenilla", it was used by the Persians as "sakar", then by the Greeks as "sakjar, and by the Romans in Latin as" saccharon ", designating with this word to the sugary powder that they extracted from the bamboo cane.In classical Arabic it takes the form of “sukkar” and in the Hispanic “assukkar” and that is how it is introduced into our language, the word sugar.

The sugars and their derived substances, form a group that are called glycides or glycides.The bears or monosaccharides are chemically aldehydes or ketones of polyvalent alcohols.They are the simplest sugars, formed by a chain of carbon atoms of variable number.If they have five carbon atoms, their name is pentose, and hexose if they are six.They include fructose, glucose and galactose.

The one we usually consume is a disacarid called sucrose (Other of them are lactose and maltose.) Sugar beet and sugar cane are the source of sugar we use to sweeten our food.

Sugarcane is a tropical plant, cultivated especially in Cuba, Brazil, Australia, India, China Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines and the United States.It needs rainy and sunny climates.Gray hairs are cut when they reach four meters of height, at ground level, area where sugar accumulates.

Beet, which is a vegetable, also provides sugar, which accumulates in its edible root.It needs cold climates, grown mostly in Europe, Canada, United States, Japan and China.

Depending on the size and color of its crystals, there are granulated, demerara or brown and muscovado sugars, not refined and of integral cane.