When did humans start using sugar as a food

When did we start to use Sugar as a food?

Sugar cane was first found in bm:New Guinea, from where it was introduced to India, China and the Middle East. India was the first country to extract natural cane juice to make the first crude sugar in 500 BC. From there the technology spread westward into the Middle East and then to Europe by the Crusaders. Christopher Columbus took sugar cane to the Caribbean. Cane growing in the Americas had dual origin, the Spanish in the West Indies at the end of the 15th Century and the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century.

In the mid-1700s, a German scientist developed an alternative to sugar cane through the use of sugar beets. Since then, the sugar beet has become the main source of sugar in Europe. Sugar beets are also grown in many other parts of the world with a temperate climate, for example, the USA, Canada, bm:China, Iran, bm:Japan, bm:Chile, and countries of the former Soviet Union. However, sugar cane will only grow in tropical climates.