Sweets and candies have been made and consumed for thousands of years, with some of the earliest evidence dating back to 8000 B.C. when honey was first used as a sweetener and added to cereals or grains. Sugar cane was domesticated between 8000 and 4000 B.C. in Papua New Guinea, and from there it spread to India and Southeast Asia. (Surprisingly, on a recent visit to PNG, I found that today there is not a strong sugar industry within the country.) Processing sugar cane into something sweet is complicated, and sugar (as we know it) was not produced until sometime between 2000 B.C. and 500 B.C. The Indians created a number of sweets with sugar, in part because the Jains, an Indian religious group who are strict vegetarians, did not want to consume honey because it came from an insect. As they perfected working with sugar, more and unusual ingredients were added to make different treats, including fruits, nuts, spices, ginger and licorice. Because sugar...
