Introduction
Chapter 1. Sugar Refining in New York City
Chapter 2. Molasses
Chapter 3. Cane Sugar in Louisiana
Chapter 4. Cane Sugar in Florida
Chapter 5. Beet Sugar: Profitable and Patriotic
Chapter 6. Corn, Chemistry, and Capitalism
Chapter 7. Cane Syrup and Corn Syrup
Chapter 8.Specialty Sugars: Invert and Liquid
Chapter 9. The Sorghum Rage of the Gilded Age
Chapter 10. Maple Sugar and Syrup
Chapter 11. Honey
Chapter 12. Saccharin
Chapter 13. Cyclamates
Chapter 14. Aspartame and Sucralose
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Deborah Jean Warner is curator at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
A treasure trove of information about everything related to sweets
and sweetening that readers will return to often to learn more and
discover new information.
*Marc Aronson, co-author of Sugar Changed the World*
Deborah Jean Warner’s Sweet Stuff is a superbly researched and
engagingly written odyssey about America’s love affair with sugar
and sweeteners from Colonial days to the present. It covers many
significant historical, industrial and scientific topics typically
excluded from other sugar histories, and it raises issues
associated with them in a fair and readable manner. So curl up in
an easy chair, line up your favorite sweet foods and sugary
beverages, and get ready for a great read!
*Andrew F. Smith, culinary historian*
This book weaves together the circuitous routes we Americans have
taken to our collective sweet tooth. Warner demonstrates how
sweeteners of various kinds have become part of the fabric of our
communities, our policies, and our pleasures.
*Carolyn de la Peña, professor, University of California, Davis;
author, Empty Pleasures*
It is hard to imagine that Deborah Warner has left undisclosed in
this book any facts about all the sweetenings you may have ever
heard of from honey to Splenda, sorghum to high fructose corn
syrup. What astounding entrepreneurship, chicanery, creativity,
inhumanity, productivity, lawmaking, speculation—the very best and
absolute worst of American business spirit has accompanied the
search for cheap sweets, and Warner reveals all.
*Sandy Oliver, food historian*
Like a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower in search of
sweet nectar, Americans have sampled a diverse array of sweeteners
in the search to satisfy our sweet tooth. Sweet Stuff provides an
interesting and very readable history of that search—our
inalienable right to sweeten our lives.
*Richard Hartel, professor of food engineering, University of
Wisconsin-Madison*
Sugar and other sweeteners are so intrinsic to American life that
their history is worth exploring. Warner tracks some of the major
threads (science and technology, business and labor, politics) in
her exhaustively researched book. The abundance of references
offers an excellent starting point for further exploration, and
archival images enhance the text.. . . Conscientiously researched
and therefore useful for its references. . . .Recommended for
academic libraries.
*Library Journal*
Deborah Jean Warner, a curator at the National Museum of American
History, provides a stunningly well-researched, lucidly written,
and detailed look at how sugar went from being a very rare treat in
the Western world until the late 1600s, to a mass-produced daily
foodstuff today. The average American consumes about 150 pounds of
sugars per year, she notes, and many ingest a substantial amount of
artificial sweeteners. How an occasional and expensive indulgence
transformed into a panoply of industrialized products and natural
sweeteners is an almost epic journey. . . . Overall, Warner's level
of detail is impressive. Not only does she tackle every aspect of
natural and artificial sweeteners' agricultural and manufacturing
history, she weaves together the cultural, economic, legislative,
and social factors that provided a fertile ground for more
production. Particularly compelling are the chapters on artificial
sweeteners, which blend descriptions of aggressive advertising
campaigns with details of backlash against products like saccharin
and cyclamate. Whether someone is attempting to cut down on sugar
consumption or not, Warner's in-depth history gives context and
meaning to one of America's most beloved ingredients.
*Foreword Reviews*
Warner’s clear prose and meticulous research make Sweet Stuff
accessible and valuable, particularly for those interested in
analytical chemistry, industrial Brooklyn, and environmental
history in Florida and Louisiana.
*Technology and Culture*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |