Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
known as the ''Dutch Standard.'' This grading system remained in use
until the late nineteenth century, when refiners began using polariscopes,
instruments that measured the refraction of light through sugar crystals,
to grade sugars with a previously unattainable level of precision.
The diffusion of both polariscopes and centrifugal machines capable
ofrapidlyseparatingsucrosefrommolassesledtochangesinqualitystan-
dards. By the 1890s, trade journals quoted prices for only two grades of
raw sugar based on polariscope measurements. Some refiners continued
to refer to the lower of the two grades as ''muscovadoes'' even though the
product was rather distinct from sugars bearing that name in the mid-
nineteenth century. Historian Alan Dye argues that the ability to deter-
mine grades with precision enabled refiners to purchase raw sugars with-
out making direct inspections.Trading centers subsequently shifted from
HavanatoNewYorkCity,wherebuyerscreatedafuturesmarketforsugar.
Dye also notes that the use of centrifugal machines reduced the moisture
content of raw sugars, thereby lowering both spoilage rates and shipping
costs.
33
However, muscovado sugars, which contain varying amounts of
molasses that affect the color, flavor, and texture of the sweetener, have
been, and continue to be, widely consumed by people in cane-growing
regions of Latin America, where they are known as rapadura (Brazil) and
panela (in much of Spanish-speaking Latin America).
34
The evolution of
quality standards for sugar then, reflected technological innovations, the
economic interests of shippers and refiners, and deeply rooted cultural
beliefs that associated whiteness with ''purity.''
Coffee importers also pushed for standardization of green coffee—
the semi-processed state in which beans were typically exported. In the
early 1880s, NewYork-based coffee merchants founded a coffee exchange.
Shortly thereafter, similar entities appeared in major European coffee
trading cities. These organizations, which effectively created a futures
market for coffee, developed standards to evaluate the size and ''roast-
ing potential'' of imported beans, information that traveled across con-
tinents via telegraph lines. The development of a futures market for cof-
fee meant that buyers no longer inspected specific beans; indeed, they
oftenpurchased''beans''thathadyettobecomeareality.Butdetermining
both quality and origins of coffee bean shipments remained problems for
buyers and roasters.The passage of the 1907 U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act
created federal regulations for a wide range of ingestible commodities. In
response to reports that some coffee roasters adulterated their products
with heavy metal-laden dyes and fillers, the law included labeling regula-
tions for coffee.
