Sugar

:This article deals with sugar as food and as an important, widely traded commodity. The word also has other uses; see sugar (disambiguation).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A sugar is a carbohydrate which contains the functional group (CH2O)n). Sugars are sweet to taste and are used in food and drink as a source of sweetness and energy making them important in biochemistry. In general use, "sugar" is taken to mean sucrose, also called "table sugar", or saccharose, a disaccharide which is a white crystalline solid. It is the most commonly used sugar for altering the flavor and properties (such as "mouthfeel", preservation, and texture) of beverages and food. Table sugar is commercially extracted from either sugar cane or sugar beet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The "simple" sugars, or monosaccharides, such as glucose (which is produced from sucrose by enzymes or acid hydrolysis), are a store of energy which is used by biological cells.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For information on the other sugars, see monosaccharide and disaccharide.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In precise culinary terms, sugar is a type of food associated with one of the primary taste sensations, that of sweetness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the Southern United States and in some regions of Europe, sugar or to have the sugar is slang for diabetes mellitus, the medical condition in which sugar metabolism is disrupted.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Food: Food is any substance consumed by living organisms, including liquid drinks. Food is the main source of energy and of nutrition for animals, and is usually of animal or plant origin....

Commodity: The word commodity is a term with distinct meanings in business and in Marxian political economy. For the former, it is a largely homogenous product, whereas for the latter, it refers generically to wares offered for exchange....

Sugar (disambiguation): Sugar can mean:...

Sugar related Images and Photos (experimental)

Sugar & Spice (DVD)	Sugar Plum Ballerina	Sugar Ray: The Best of Sugar Ray	Sugar Ray: The Best of Sugar Ray
White Sugar Lumps	Sugar Bowl Grey T-Shirt	Sugar Ray: Music for Cougars CD	Carla Thomas - Sugar
2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl DVD	Sugar Skulls Day of the Dead Mexico North America	Burning Sugar Cane Field at Harvest Time	Notre Dame Sugar Bowl Unisex T-Shirt