Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Could you imagine life without sugar? Without desserts or sweet sodas or even that pinch to bring a dish into balance? Well until recently, few people on Earth had ever tasted- or even heard of the stuff. The story of how sugar went from an expensive delicacy to an everyday "essential" is grim, brutal, and horrifying, but that doesn't mean it's not fascinating. It's the story of the global economy, agricultural progress and the real pirates of the Caribbean. And it's a story that takes us from New Guinea, to India, to the New World, and just about everywhere in between.

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0:00 - Introduction
1:00 - The Sweetest Thing
4:28 - Origins
6:22 - Khanda and Sharkara
8:22 - Jaggery
11:19 - A Mediocre Laxative
13:18 - The Sugar Masters
16:17 - Bakkwa
20:14 - The Zoroastrians
21:38 - Dessert
23:15 - Everything Goes Sideways
26:27 - A Nice Donut
27:38 - The Brutal Job
29:36 - Madeira
32:33 - The Worst Story in Food History
37:18 - Rum
39:50 - Pirates of the Caribbean
42:26 - Meanwhile, in Asia
45:17 - The Boycott
49:05 - Rum Again
51:43 - Beets and Big Sugar
55:30 - Seriously, Sugar is the Worst

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Video Credits:

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