Sugar is another type of carbohydrate which, like starch, serves only for the production of heat and energy in the body and does not build body tissue. For this reason it saves protein material for growth and when used intelligently and in combination with other foods, is a valuable food for growing children. Three to five ounces is sufficient for the total amount in all forms consumed in any one day. Overeating of candy and other sweet foods should be avoided because sugar is completely absorbed in the system and if eaten in excess of the needs of the body is stored in the liver. It is a single food containing no mineral salts nor "vita-mines," and when eaten between meals appeases the appetite without supplying the body with any of the other materials necessary for health.

It has been proved that sugar can be utilized in the form of energy in the muscles of the body from twenty minutes to a half-hour after it is eaten. For this reason it is extremely valuable to prevent exhaustion under physical stress and can be used to restore over-fatigued muscles if other food is not at hand. Its value has long been proven by mountain climbers and trampers who carry it with them in the compact form of sweet chocolate. The story is told how the Germans utilized this physiological fact in the rations given their army. It is said that the men were kept on half rations between drives but during the twenty-four hours just previous to an attack, a large quantity of sugar was allotted them along with their regular food, in order to provide the immediate physical energy required for their strenuous exertions.

Value as food

Danger of improper use

No wonder that a child who is allowed to eat ice-cream sodas, college ices, or candy freely between meals, has no appetite for a good substantial meal when the proper time comes,1 for the body has had a sufficient amount of energy-supplying foods but is sadly lacking in the variety of foods which it should have.

Sugar has not long been the common article of diet that it is to-day. In the time of our grandparents it was a luxury only to be had in the form of a very hard pyramidal cake which stood on the dining-room side-board and was chipped off to be used as we use candy to-day. It also could be had in the form of rock crystals which were frequently bought on a string. To-day it is one of our great food staples and when its production and shipment were disturbed during the war, great commotion on two continents resulted.

Most of the sugar in commercial use comes from cane or from beets. Before the war France, Belgium, and Germany together produced 93 per cent of the beet sugar of the world, and Germany and Austria alone raised one fourth of the total sugar supply of the world. During and since the war, beet-sugar production has been greatly stimulated in the United States, especially in Utah and Idaho; but the difficulty with its production in this country is the high cost of labor which handicaps it in competition with that of the Continent. The largest production of cane sugar is in Cuba and Java. The Javan crop was inaccessible during the war because of the lack of shipping facilities, so that it was necessary for us to share the Cuban crop with the Allies. This was the reason for the shortage particularly along the Atlantic seaboard. As it is a crop which could not be immediately increased under the stimulus of high prices, at the request of the Food Administration the wholesale price was stabilized by agreement among the dealers and the crop was apportioned to the different markets, thus doing away with competitive bidding. The next step was to reduce the amount of sugar consumed by manufacturers and the general public. Even with the reduction asked of us we were yet allowed more sugar per person than was the normal consumption by European peoples before the war, so excessive is our use of sugar.

1 Each college ice with a chocolate sauce contains 400-450 calories and an ordinary 15 cent cake of sweet chocolate about 400 calories.

Sugar supply

Chemically there are two groups of sugars; those that are known as single sugars, and those that are double or complex. There are three double sugars in common use. Those that are extracted from cane, from beet, and from the maple-tree are all the same chemical sugar. Their name is sucrose. The only difference in these sugars is due to the difference in refining. The impurities that are left in each give to it its peculiar flavor. Cane sugar is on the market in the forms of coarse brown sugar, light brown sugar, confectioner's sugar, powdered, granulated, and loaf sugar. Maple sugar, on the other hand, is not refined, as the maple flavor gives to it its popularity.

Cane sugar was first known in China and its use spread slowly westward as a great luxury. Early explorers brought it from India along with spices and precious stones. The process of obtaining the juice from the cane has not greatly changed in principle during the centuries, although in late years more complicated machinery has been introduced. The cane is cut and run through a shredding machine. The mass of pulp is put under pressure to extract the juice. It is washed with water during this process, although all the water thus added must eventually be evaporated out. The juice is treated with chemicals and boiled in order to throw out all albuminous matter that it may contain. After this it is filtered and evaporated. The heavy syrup is then placed in a centrifugal machine to separate the crystals of cane sugar from the molasses, which is glucose and which does not crystallize. Sugar is shipped in this raw state and is refined at different points along the seacoast of the United States. In the refining process the sugar is remelted, filtered, clarified by charcoal, and again evaporated and allowed to crystallize.

Kinds of sugars

Sugar was first extracted from beets by a German in 1797. It was not a commercial success, however, until 1850, when it was found possible to increase the percentage of sugar in beets from 3 to 15 or 16 per cent, thus making the complicated process of extraction worth while. The beets are cut in very thin slices and washed with water to extract the juices; these are then evaporated and decolorized by animal charcoal. Raw beet sugar is very different from raw cane sugar but the products after refining cannot be distinguished one from the other.

The other two complex sugars are the sugar that is found in milk used for modifying cow's milk for infants, and malt sugar that is formed by the fermentation of starch.

Cane sugar

The simple sugars occur widely in nature, being found in all fruits either separately or in combination with each other. The most common of these and the one which sometimes gives its name to the group as a whole is glucose. This is the sugar that is found in grapes as well as in other fruit and is frequently seen in small yel ow lumps on the outside of old raisins. It is made commercially on a large scale by the action of acids on starch. It is not so sweet as cane sugar and does not crystallize, so that it is used in the manufacture of syrups and some candy as a much cheaper but harmless substitute for cane sugar. Corn syrups which were put on the market as substitutes for sugar are largely glucose; hence in order to get the same quality of sweetness in the finished product, it is necessary to use half as much again of the syrup as of the sugar required.

Another simple sugar is known as fruit sugar. It is found in most fruits, but is not of commercial value. It is two and a half times sweeter than cane or beet sugar and is what gives to fruit its fuel value, even though the fruit may be very acid to the taste. A combination of glucose and fruit sugar occurring in an intimate mixture is known as invert sugar because it is made from cane sugar by inversion; that is, by boiling with acids or by fermentation. Honey is practically pure natural invert sugar. These three sugars, glucose, fruit sugar, and invert sugar, are found in fruits either separately or together.

Sugar is used in cookery to give desirable flavor to various substances. The changes which it undergoes when being cooked by itself are physical rather than chemical. When water boils, it can be no hotter when boiling vigorously than when boiling gently, for water is changed into steam at 212° F. and so pure water can never be any hotter than this temperature. As soon, however, as we put another sub-stance in solution in the water we raise the boiling point. Salted water has a higher boiling point than plain water and so also has a solution of sugar and water. As the water is gradually boiled out from syrup, the solution becomes more and more dense and the boiling point is continually being raised. This is the reason why all recipes for making jams say to boil vigorously. The syrup will do different things at different densities, so that in candy making or in boiling syrup for frosting, a syrup thermometer may be used and the syrup boiled up to the desired temperature. There are a few fixed points as follows:

Simple sugars Glucose

Fruit sugar

1. 2380 F.: Soft ball test; makes a soft ball in cold water; used for frosting, fudge, and fondant.

2. 2480 F.: Hard ball test; forms a firm ball under cold water.

3. 290o F.: Small crack test; is hard and brittle in cold water; for pulled candies.

4. 310o F.: Hard crack test; begins to discolor; for glaced nuts and fruit; too hard for pulled candies.

5. 345°-350° F.: Caramel; turns brown; for peanut brittle.

If the boiling were continued further, the water of the sugar itself would be driven out completely, leaving nothing but the black mass of charcoal or carbon. Another way for making caramel to be used for flavor, or for sauces, is to put the sugar in a frying-pan dry, and heat it on top of the stove. After it is melted and browned carefully without burning, an equal amount of boiling water is added. This dissolves the caramel, which can then be kept in liquid form.

Action of sugar on boiling

Caramel

Barley sugar, which is used for the very hard Christmas candies, is the stage reached before the sugar begins to caramelize when it has boiled too long to be used for glaced fruits.

The logical place to use sugar in the diet is at the close of a meal in which a variety of food substances has been used. This may be in the form of made desserts of all kinds, cake, pastry, or fruit, either raw or cooked. The dessert should be as carefully planned as the rest of the meal. If the earlier courses have been heavy, fruit is preferable to a rich pudding. If, however, left-overs have been used and the meal has been somewhat light, it is suitable to count on a hearty pudding for part of the total value of the meal. It should be remembered that all desserts which contain fat in any form either as cream, whipped or frozen, or as pastries, suet puddings, or rich cake, should only be served when very little fat has been used during the meal. To serve a rich cake with a luscious chocolate frosting with a rich ice-cream is sure to bring the total amount of fuel of the meal far above the actual requirements of the needs of the family. Peculiar as it may seem, a plain, slightly salted, crisp cracker goes better with ice-cream than anything else.

How to use sugar