Sugar cane

Sugar cane is a grass and the source of 70% of the world's sugar which is extracted from the sweet, juicy stems. Sugar's long history has included its spread from New Guinea to South Asia, then with Arab farmers to the Mediterranean, and - most notoriously - as the foundation of the Caribbean slave trade.
An early print of a stylised sugar cane plant.
Street snack
Pieces of sugar cane are chewed for their sugary syrup, and are a popular street food in South Asia. This was the original use of sugar cane - sugar extraction came later. Traditional methods are still used to produce characteristic Indian sugars such as gur.
Plant a cane
Look for fresh sugar cane in food shops - you can grow a piece on your window sill.
Jams and jellies
Sugar is an excellent preservative - hence its use in jam.
A controversial plant
Sugar cane has been at the centre of bitter disputes over its role in health, European Union sugar subsidies and the transatlantic slave trade. It provided the original incentive for European expansion and colonisation which has shaped the world forever.