This social and historical exploration traces the history of sugarcane from its home in New Guinea to Shakespeare’s England. Fascinating sugar lore and anecdotes are included, such as how Queen Elizabeth I became so partial to hippocras (mulled wine), sugared almonds, and pastilles that her teeth...
In botanical language it is Saccharum officinarum, a name given to it by Linnaeus himself—Carl von Linné, the inventor of our modern classification system. This, and five related Saccharum species, are placed in the Andropogoneae tribe, along with sorghum and maize. Like other grasses, sugar cane...