Download e-book for iPad: The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets (Oxford Companions) by Darra Goldstein,Sidney Mintz

A candy teeth is a robust factor. infants in all places appear to smile whilst tasting sweetness for the 1st time, a trait inherited, might be, from our ancestors who foraged for candy meals that have been as a rule more secure to devour than their sour opposite numbers. however the "science of candy" is simply the start of a desirable tale, since it isn't really uncomplicated human desire or basic organic impulse that activates us to accessorize complicated marriage ceremony muffins, scoop ice cream right into a cone, or drop sugar cubes into espresso. those are issues of tradition and aesthetics, of heritage and society, and we'd ask many different questions. Why do goodies characteristic so prominently in kid's literature? whilst was once sugar known as a spice? and the way did chocolate evolve from an old drink to a contemporary sweet bar?

The Oxford better half to Sugar and goodies explores those questions and extra in the course of the collective wisdom of 265 professional members, from nutrition historians to chemists, restaurateurs to cookbook writers, neuroscientists to pastry cooks. The significant other takes readers all over the world and all through time, affording glimpses deep into the mind in addition to stratospheric flights into the area of sugar-crafted fantasies. greater than only a compendium of pastries, chocolates, ices, preserves, and confections, this reference paintings finds how the human proclivity for candy has introduced richness to our language, our paintings, and, in fact, our gastronomy. In approximately six hundred entries, starting with "? los angeles mode" and finishing with the Italian trifle often called "zuppa inglese," the spouse lines sugar's trip from an extraordinary luxurious to a ubiquitous commodity. In among, readers will find out about quite a few sweeteners (as recognized as agave nectar and as imprecise as castoreum, or beaver extract), the evolution of the dessert path, the construction of chocolate, and the neurological, mental, and cultural responses to sweetness. The significant other additionally delves into the darker facet of sugar, from its ties to colonialism and slavery to its addictive qualities.

Celebrating sugar whereas acknowledging its complicated historical past, The Oxford better half to Sugar and goodies is the definitive consultant to 1 of humankind's maximum resources of enjoyment. Like childrens in a sweet store, lovers of sugar (and should not we all?) will take pleasure in perusing the wondrous sort to be present in this volume.