How Misrī मिसरी (crystal sugar) reached India from Egypt? ~ a thread
Long before its introduction to China, Indian sugar making technology was introduced to the West. Cane sugar remained almost a novelty in the classical world, coveted for its reputed medicinal properties;1/7 https://twitter.com/RohiniBakshi/status/1341408008212013062

Later, the cultivation of sugarcane spread & improvements were made in its processing. One of the earliest such enhancements was around 700 A.D. in the Euphrates region, where Nestorian monks established a superior method of refining resulting in a cleaner, whiter sugar.2/7

In the subsequent centuries, the center for research in sugar refining technology shifted to Egypt from Euphrates region. The Egyptians were experts in dying, glassmaking, silk weaving & metalworks i.e chemical industry, & soon they put their talents into sugar refining. 3/7

Egyptians built their dominance in sugar industry in sugar in such a grand scale that they twice attempted to set up a monopoly over sugar; once they tried under the sultan Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (996-1021) & later under the sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Dīn Bārsbay (1422-1438). 4/7

Egyptian rock sugar or crystal candy was treated with such high respects that it was even exported to India where in Hindi/Urdu it was aptly named misrī मिसरी (Egyptian sugar), from misra Egypt मिस्र. 6/7

From Egypt the new refining techniques were taken to the East. According to Venetian merchant & explorer Marco Polo, it was the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan (1260-1294) who brought in Babylonians to China to teach the Chinese the Egyptian technology of sugar making. 7/7

Read about how Chini चीनी (sugar) got it's name here in this thread (go through the entire thread by Dr Pant). https://mobile.twitter.com/avtansa/status/1337680875614576640?s=19

Just to make it clear for eternity - surname मिश्र miṣra (related to Sanskrit word for "mixed" implying kind, caste or parentage; hybrid ) has NOTHING to do with मिस्र misra (Egypt from Arabic word miśr).