Sweet Stuff

A treasure trove of information about everything related to sweets and sweetening that readers will return to often to learn more and discover new information. -- Marc Aronson, co-author of Sugar Changed the World
Deborah Jean Warner’s Sweet Stuff is a superbly researched and engagingly written odyssey about America’s love affair with sugar and sweeteners from Colonial days to the present. It covers many significant historical, industrial and scientific topics typically excluded from other sugar histories, and it raises issues associated with them in a fair and readable manner. So curl up in an easy chair, line up your favorite sweet foods and sugary beverages, and get ready for a great read! -- Andrew F. Smith, culinary historian
This book weaves together the circuitous routes we Americans have taken to our collective sweet tooth. Warner demonstrates how sweeteners of various kinds have become part of the fabric of our communities, our policies, and our pleasures. -- Carolyn de la Peña, professor, University of California, Davis; author, Empty Pleasures
It is hard to imagine that Deborah Warner has left undisclosed in this book any facts about all the sweetenings you may have ever heard of from honey to Splenda, sorghum to high fructose corn syrup. What astounding entrepreneurship, chicanery, creativity, inhumanity, productivity, lawmaking, speculation—the very best and absolute worst of American business spirit has accompanied the search for cheap sweets, and Warner reveals all. -- Sandy Oliver, food historian
Like a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower in search of sweet nectar, Americans have sampled a diverse array of sweeteners in the search to satisfy our sweet tooth. Sweet Stuff provides an interesting and very readable history of that search—our inalienable right to sweeten our lives. -- Richard Hartel, professor of food engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sugar and other sweeteners are so intrinsic to American life that their history is worth exploring. Warner tracks some of the major threads (science and technology, business and labor, politics) in her exhaustively researched book. The abundance of references offers an excellent starting point for further exploration, and archival images enhance the text.. . . Conscientiously researched and therefore useful for its references. . . .Recommended for academic libraries. * Library Journal *
Deborah Jean Warner, a curator at the National Museum of American History, provides a stunningly well-researched, lucidly written, and detailed look at how sugar went from being a very rare treat in the Western world until the late 1600s, to a mass-produced daily foodstuff today. The average American consumes about 150 pounds of sugars per year, she notes, and many ingest a substantial amount of artificial sweeteners. How an occasional and expensive indulgence transformed into a panoply of industrialized products and natural sweeteners is an almost epic journey. . . . Overall, Warner's level of detail is impressive. Not only does she tackle every aspect of natural and artificial sweeteners' agricultural and manufacturing history, she weaves together the cultural, economic, legislative, and social factors that provided a fertile ground for more production. Particularly compelling are the chapters on artificial sweeteners, which blend descriptions of aggressive advertising campaigns with details of backlash against products like saccharin and cyclamate. Whether someone is attempting to cut down on sugar consumption or not, Warner's in-depth history gives context and meaning to one of America's most beloved ingredients. * Foreword Reviews *
Warner’s clear prose and meticulous research make Sweet Stuff accessible and valuable, particularly for those interested in analytical chemistry, industrial Brooklyn, and environmental history in Florida and Louisiana. * Technology and Culture *