other than sugar and substances containing sugar, have become important in the 20th century, especially in the western world, where an addiction to sugar and sweet foods often conflicts with a desire to avoid becoming fat.
Some natural substances have a powerful sweetening effect when present in small amounts. One of these is glycyrrhizin in liquorice. In the actual root, or the black sweetmeat made from it, its sweetness is partly masked by other, bitter compounds.
Several tropical plants contain substances which, when eaten, have the bizarre effect of making everything else taste sweet for some time. The most notable of these is the ‘miracle berry’, Synsepalum dulcificum. Food scientists have not yet succeeded in bringing its active substance, miraculin, under control so that it bestows sweetness in a more selective or restrained way. If they do, it could become important.
The only non-sugar sweetener at present licensed for use in most countries is saccharin, a synthetic substance made from coal tar. It was accidentally discovered in 1879 at Johns Hopkins University by chemists working on the coal tar derivative toluene, one of whom licked his finger and noticed that it tasted sweet. A commercial manufacturing process was developed in 1894. Saccharin is now widely used not only as a sweetener for coffee and tea and for dieters' foods but also in many conventional processed foods and drinks. It is a cheaper means of sweetening these than sugar. Saccharin in pure form is 300 to 500 times as sweet as common white sugar. (This is not a record. Some substances taste up to ten times sweeter still.) It has an unpleasant, bitter aftertaste, although the principal kind used today, sodium saccharin, is better than older kinds in this respect.
The so-called ‘sweet herb of Paraguay’ is Stevia rebaudiana, an annual herb native to the mountains of Paraguay and part of Brazil. It is said to be 300 times sweeter than sugar, and that the dried leaves, ground or soaked are used locally as a sugar substitute.
Another sweetener which is powerfully effective in small concentrations is aspartame, made by chemical treatment of natural amino acids.
Other artificial sweeteners were formerly used, especially cyclamates. These are only thirty times as sweet as sugar, which make them more controllable; have less of an aftertaste; and are resistant to cooking, which saccharin is not. However, they are thought to be potentially carcinogenic, so have been banned since 1969/70 in the USA and many other countries including Britain.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
