Saccharum, Sugar

Sugarcane
–Iksu (Ayurveda)
–Karumbu (Siddha)
–Ganna (Unani)
Sugar
–Sakar (Arabic)
–Shakar (Hebrew)
–Sakcharon (Greek)
White Sugar
–Misri (Ayurveda)
–Ka Ra (Tibetan)
Sugar Candy:
–Saccharum crysaltizatum (Latin)
–Saccharon krysatallinon (Greek)
Sugar Processing
Museum Museorum, Valentini, 1704

Botanical name:

Saccharum officinalis

Parts used:

1. Fresh Juice
2. Molasses (syrup of raw sugar)
3. dehydrated Juice (Raw Sugar)
4. Refined Sugar (White Sugar)
5. Sugar Candy (Crystallised Sugar)

Temperature & Taste:

Cool, most. Sweet

Constituents:

Sugar Cane:
Water 70–75%
Sugars: sucrose, glucose, fructose
Nitrogenous substances: 0.3–4%
Fats and Waxes: 0.15–0.25%
Gums and Pectins: 0.15–0.25%
Free acids: 0.1%
Ash: 0.3–0.5%

Uses:

1. Clears Heat:
-Fever; Heat of Blood and Bile (Tibetan)
-obstructed Urine from Heat
-also eases pain

2. Clears Heat, Stops Cough:
-soothes the Throat; acute Sore Throat, Hoarseness
-stops Cough and helps Wheezing
-‘all Diseases of the Lungs’, including Lung Ulcers (Salmon)

3. Increases Qi:
-‘Restorative’ (Salmon)
-increases bodily strength (Tibetan)
-aphrodisiac; promotes Sperm (Juice; Ayurveda)
-promotes Healing of Wounds

4. In Pharmacy:
-sugar is import to preserve fresh herbs, juices and decoctions in the form of syrups and conserves.
-sugar can be used to prepare roots to become more tonic
-sugar can be used to beat substances that are hard to powder, such as Ambergris, Camphor and Gold leaf

5. Externally:
-Ophthalmia (1 part white sugar to 3 parts water, by weight, as eye drops)
-Gonorrhea (1 part to 3 parts water as an injection)
-applied to foul ‘cancerous-looking’ ulcers
-drawing plaster for Boils, sugar with soap topically
-powdered sugar candy is applied to the eyes to remove superficial growths over the eyes


NOTE
1. Sugar Candy was accounted better for Rheums, Catarrhs, Coughs, Colds, Asthma and Wheezing than common sugar. Salmon explained this was due to its hardness which takes a longer time to dissolve in the throat and stomach, thereby having better effect at soothing them. The powder of Sugar Candy was dropped into the eyes for dimness of sight, and sprinkled on old sores it cleanses them. Otherwise, Sugar Candy has the same effects with Sugar.
2. The Juice is used similarly, but also clears Heat and stops Bleeding, and helps promote Urine when obstructed.

Dose:

200–400 mls of the Juice, often taken with Milk in Ayurveda
Sugar and Sugar Candy are used either to give a pleasant sweetness to a medicine, or otherwise used in the preparation of Syrups, Electuaries, Conserves etc. To make a syrup, a high percentage of sugar is required. Therefore if a teaspoonful was given three times daily, around 2 teaspoonfuls of sugar would be given daily.

Substitute:

1. Honey or Maltose can generally be used where sugar is used, as is generally accounted healthier.
2. Various other modern sugar substitutes are available and may be used where sugar is undesirable.

Main Combinations:

Sugar is a primary ingredient of Syrups, Conserves and Preserves.

1. Sugar with Vinegar (as Oxymel) to cut through thick humors, resolve Phlegm, and prepare for purging.
2. Lung Heat Cough, Lung Deficiency, Sugar boiled with Barley Water (Sugar Penids)
3. Topically to clear the Eyes of ‘Clouds, Films, Pearls’:
i. Sugar Candy, Cuttlefish bone (equal parts in fine powder)
ii. Sugar Candy (2 parts), Cuttlefish bone, Tutty (1 part each); make a fine powder.
iii. Sugar Candy (3 parts), Aloe, Tutty, Cuttlefish bone, Burnt Alum (1 part each); make a fine powder.
Any of the above is put into the eyes 3, 4, or 5 times daily to remove superficial growths of the eyes. (Salmon)

Major Formulas:

Sugar Penids

Cautions:

1. Avoid in Diabetics.
2. Many Traditional Medicine formulas use large amounts of sugar, especially in syrups, conserves, confections and electuaries. It must be remembered that these were written in times where sugar use was sparse and not a staple of diet as it has become in modern society. Therefore, the use of sugar in such quantities may not be suitable in modern times. However, the limited use in medicines such as cough syrups poses no problem. In conditions where a sugar preparation is being used, asking the patent to stop taking sweets and sugar-rich foods would be wise.

Main Preparations used:

Sugar of Rose, Sugar of Violets, Syrup of Sugar Candy, Liquor of Sugar, Tincture of Sugar

1. Sugar of Roses:
Dissolve Sugar in Rose Juice

2. Sugar of Violets:
Dissolve Sugar in Violet Juice

3. Sugar Candy
Sugar Candy is only crystallized sugar. A traditional method (from Salmon):
  Dissolve refined sugar in pure water, then boil to the consistency of a syrup; pour into pots into which sticks are put evenly spaced and leave in a cool place for several days. The crystals of sugar will stick to the sticks and are collected for use.

4. Syrup of Sugar Candy:
  Take Sugar Candy in powder, add S.V. (Brandy) enough to cover by an inch, set on fire and leave until as thick as a Syrup.
  It has the vertues of Sugar, especially good for violent Coughs and Colds.

5. Liquor of Sugar:
  ‘Put Loaf-sugar into a hard white of an Egg and let them melt’. (Salmon)

6. Tincture of Sugar
  Fine Sugar, Oil of Tartar per deliquium (1 dram each)
Digest in Water Bath for 2 or 3 days, then add Spirit of Wine (3 oz.). Digest them together, filter.
Dose: 1 spoonful or more.