Another possible origin of a taste for sweetness among ferrets is insect
feeding by ancestors.  It hit me today that I had run into a mention in
the past which indicated that some insets are sweet, so I began to Google
 
"insect recipes" +sweet
 
figuring that might get the most rapid applicable sites.
 
Along the way I ran into this safe trap for ants and roaches:
http://www.curevents.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18401
by using a pan of thick sugar syrup or molasses to prevent escape,
though I wonder if they would eat from the side and continue procreating
making it counterproductive so I think that something larger with an
inward turning lip like are on sweetened water wasp traps may be better
than a regular pan.
 
Okay, I have found mentions of some tasting like lobster (a type of
grub), some being buttery ("bug larvae at Mono Lake"), and some being
sweet (a type of grub, a gnat), June bugs braised in butter with no
taste description ditto cicada fritters, but there are also bitter
types of insects mentioned.  Many cultures have insect recipes.
 
Okay, here is a good resource and it mentions sweetness for some insects,
so an insect component to the past diet could also be part of the
attraction to sweetness for our mustelids.
 
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2160.html
including
>...Most American insect recipes are based on limited types of insects
>easily purchased from supply companies, pet stores or bait shops...
>Over 1,000 insect species are eaten by humans world wide.  Not all
>insects are edible.  Some insects are toxic and may create allergy
>problems.  Use only species mentioned in this Entomology fact sheet...
>Along with nutrition comes the added benefit of good taste.  Doug
>Whitman, Entomologist at Illinois State University, enjoys eating
>raw yellowjacket larvae which have a sweet, nutty flavor.  Gene R.
>DeFoliart, retired Entomologist at the University of Wisconsin,
>prefers the greater wax moth larvae (deep-fried will melt in your
>mouth, tasting like bacon) and crickets deep-fried have a crunchy,
>tangy flavor.
 
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/misc/insectsasfood.html
 
Anyway, it looks like this could also have been a possible origin for
the attraction to sweets by ferrets.
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5250]