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A botanical illustration of stalk, leaf, and other parts of sugarcane.
<p>Botanical illustration of sugarcane.</p>

Sugar is understood primarily as a medicine within the Greek and Roman empires.

20s BCE

The Story of: Sugar, The Colonizer Wound
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<p>Botanical illustration of sugarcane.</p>

Extremely wealthy Greek and Roman families are able to purchase sugar to use in food preparation, but for most Greeks and Romans this medicinal ingredient is inaccessible. Raw sugar, which pulls water out of the body, is used to dress wounds. Additionally, sugar can preserve medicinal plants for the same reason: sugaring fruit pulls the water out and dries it, helping the fruit (or another part of a plant) to last longer.