Cane sugar

“ They are not infrequently infested by a small insect, the sugar-mite, many thousands of which have been detected in a single pound of brown sugar." Cane-sugar and grape-sugar, otherwise known as sucrose and glucose, are obtained from various sources. Most of the cane-sugar consumed in England is actually produced from the sugar-cane, but of beet-root sugar there is much in the market, and in America sugar is produced from the maple, from maize, and from the "sugar grass." ”

“ Cane sugar is obtained from sugar cane, beets, and the palm and sugar-maple trees. Sugar cane is a grass supposed to be native to Southern Asia, but now grown throughout the tropics, a large amount coming from Cuba and Louisiana; it is the commonest of all, and in all cases the manufacture is essentially the same. The products of manufacture are: molasses, syrup, brown sugar, loaf, cut, granulated, powdered, and confectioners’ sugar. Brown sugar is cheapest, but is not so pure or sweet as white 7grades ”

“ Granulated sugar, whether cane or beet, is the purest food article in commerce.
Clarified cane sugar is not quite as pure as granulated, but when used in catsup will make equally as good a product as granulated will; however, as the percentage of sucrose is not so high, a little more of it has to be used. A considerable saving can often be made by buying clarified instead of granulated sugar, but the purchase should be made on polariscope test, so the buyer knows exactly what he is getting. ”

“ In the best organized modern cane sugar estates as much as 121⁄2% of the weight of the canes treated is obtained in crystal sugar of high polarizing power, although in Louisiana, where cultivation and manufacture are alike most carefully and admirably carried out, the yield in sugar is only about 7% of the weight of the canes, and sometimes, but seldom, as much as 9%. ”

“ It is interesting to note that while the cane is growing and in an unripe state, there is no discernible sucrose or pure sugar in it. As the ripening process goes on, the content of the cane juice is changed by the action of the sun’s rays, and the amount of sucrose as determined by polariscopic test shows when the time for harvesting is at hand. Nature’s operation in thus changing glucose or invert sugar into sucrose or pure sugar cannot be accomplished by any human means. ”

“ Moreover, it is all ready for absorption straightway into the blood after being eaten, whereas cane sugar must be first masticated with the saliva, or spittle, and converted somewhat slowly into honey sugar before it can be utilised for the wants of the body. In this way the superiority of Honey over cane sugar is manifested, and it may be readily understood why grapes, the equivalent of Honey in the matter of their sugar, have an immediate effect in relieving fatigue by straightway contributing power and caloric.
Aged persons who are toothless may be supported almost exclusively on sugar. ”

“ In many colonies the yield is said to be far inferior to what it should be; yet the juice is obtained in a state allowing of easier purification, when its extraction is not carried to the furthest limit.
In beet root as well as in the sugar cane, cane-sugar only was said to be present; Icery however has proved that in the cane some uncrystallizable (inverted) sugar is always present. Its quantity varies much, according to the places where the cane grows, and its age. The tops of quick-growing young canes yielded a vesou containing 2·4 per cent. of uncrystallizable sugar; 3·6 of cane sugar ”

“ Glucose is extensively used as a substitute for cane-sugar in the manufacture of table-syrup, in brewing, in confectionery, in making artificial honey, and in adulterating cane-sugar, as well as in many minor applications. ”

“ Invert sugar is so called because the mixture of glucose and fructose which forms the “invert” is laevo-rotatory, whereas cane sugar is dextro-rotatory to the plane of polarized light. The preparation of invert sugar by the acid process consists in treating the cane sugar in solution with a little mineral acid, removing the excess of the latter by means of chalk, and concentrating to a thick syrup. ”

“ Sugar cane is now grown all over the earth in regions with a hot, moist climate, India and neighboring countries producing over half the world’s supply. Practically all the sugar produced in India is used there, however, so that the American tropics furnish to Europe and America about one-third of the world’s total consumption of cane sugar. ”

“ The New Orleans Times contains, in a late number, an account of the manufacture of sugar as conducted on the Poychas estate, from which we extract portions containing the essential particulars of cane sugar making as conducted in the southern portions of the United States.
"Reaching the Cane shed, the crop, dumped into piles, is received by a crowd of feeders, who place it (eight or ten stalks at a time) on the cane carrier. This is an elevator, on an endless band of wood and iron, which carries them to the second story, where the stalks drop between the rollers. ”

“ It is commonly known that sugar may come from any one of numberless sources. Sugar of milk is the first sugar with which [44] members of the human race become acquainted, but one which, of course, is of little account in candy-making. The sugar of fruits is in an easily accessible form and one which is of particular value when combined with cane sugar. ”

“ There is an old prejudice against sugar which is quite unfounded so far as the healthy individual is concerned. Cane sugar has recently been proved to be a most valuable muscle food, and when taken in the proper way for sweetening beverages, fruit, and puddings, it is entirely good. ”

“ In preparing sugar from sugar cane the liquors left after separating as much of it as possible from the juice of the cane constitute ordinary molasses. Maple sugar is made by the evaporation of the sap obtained from a species of the maple tree. Its sweetness is due to the presence of cane sugar, other products present in the maple sap imparting the distinctive flavor.
When a solution of cane sugar is heated with hydrochloric or other dilute mineral acid, two compounds, dextrose and levulose, are formed in accordance with the following equation:
C12H22O11 + H2O = C6H12O6 + C6H12O6. ”

“ In addition, cane sugar is contained in the majority of fruits. Pectin is also a carbohydrate that is found in large quantities in some fruits, while in other fruits it is lacking. This substance is related to the gums and to cellulose. Although it is one of the carbohydrates from which no food value is derived, it is of considerable importance, because it is responsible for the jelly-making properties of fruits.
14. In fruits that are not fully matured, or, in other words, green fruits, the sugar has not developed to so great an extent as it has in perfectly ripe fruits. ”

“ Sugar from Beets. Not all the sugar that comes to our tables is made from the cane; in fact only a small proportion is cane-sugar. Most of it is produced from the beet which is grown in large quantities in the West. ”

“ The plain truth is that all refined granulated cane sugar offered for sale in the markets of this country today is almost identical, irrespective of the manner in which it may be packed. The poorest quality of refined sugar made has, in all likelihood, a purity not lower than 99.5 per cent, while the highest grade cannot possibly exceed 99.9 per cent, a difference of only four-tenths of one per cent, hence it is evident that all refined sugars are practically pure, the fancy package simply meaning a fancy price. ”

“ Contrary to the general practice in Europe, beet-sugar factories in the United States do not use bone-char, and consequently do not take all the coloring matter and salts out of the liquor. They secure a white sugar by other methods, which will be explained later on. In a cane-sugar refinery, however, the coloring matter and impurities are entirely eliminated, and the product is invariably pure and white. ”

“ Well, this is good news, at any rate, but it does not follow that manufacturers and merchants have the right to mix it with cane sugar or sell it to us for genuine cane sirups, or real honey, or pure sugar candy, or in any of the other ways in which we are made to pay two or three times what it is really worth. It does not do away with the great need of a rigorous food adulteration act, though there is great satisfaction in knowing that when we eat it we are not taking in a mild death-dealing potion. ”

“ The area devoted to cane varies year by year and runs between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 acres, chiefly in the United Provinces, Bengal and the Punjab, although the northwest provinces, Madras, Bombay, central provinces, the Rajput states, and Burma contribute. As the cane-sugar crop of India is estimated to be between 2,225,000 and 2,500,000 tons, it would appear that the sugar realized per acre is something near one ton on an average, as against five and one-half tons in Hawaii. ”

“ The average annual quantity of cane sugar produced and sent into the markets of the civilised world, at the present time, may be taken at 1,500,000 tons, exclusive of the amount grown and manufactured for local consumption in India, China, Cochin-China, and the Malay Archipelago, of which no certain statistics exist, but which has been estimated at about another million tons. ”

“ It does not crystallize as cane-sugar does, and is not nearly so sweet, so that the admixture of grape with cane-sugar is an adulteration greatly to the disadvantage of the purchaser, though in no way unwholesome. Jams made with pure cane-sugar are apt to crystallize, or become granular; to prevent this glucose is added. If only a small proportion is used, it can hardly be considered an adulterant. When a strong solution of sugar is allowed to solidify slowly and undisturbed, it deposits large crystals, such as we see in sugar-candy: if it is agitated the crystals are small, as in loaf sugar. ”

“ The people get more juice from their small straw- coloured canes in these pestle-and-mortar mills than they can from those with cylindrical rollers in the present rude state of the mechanical arts all over India; and the straw-coloured cane is the only kind that yields good sugar. ”

“ Glucose sugars melt at one hundred and five degrees, 19C., while cane sugars melt only when heated to one hundred and thirty-seven degrees, C. Raw sugars are no longer used. They should be refined to free them from the repulsive sugar mite and other impurities. The best sugar is always the most economical.
The Best Grades of Family Sugar are the cut loaf, cubes and crushed. ”

“ That the outlook for the cane-sugar industry is far from promising is evidenced by the fact that the output has fallen off from 34,548 tons in 1900 to 6,359 tons in 1915. The area available for cane culture is limited and too far from the tropics to give satisfactory crop results. Then again, a high surtax has had the effect of restricting the consumption, which at the present time is somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 tons per annum, all told. ”

“ As showing its perfectly digested state, demonstrations have proved that fruit sugar may be injected directly into the blood, from which it will be utilized in nourishing the body. This is in marked contrast with ordinary cane sugar, which, if injected directly into the blood, is expelled through the kidneys, the body being unable to appropriate it as such from the blood.
Fruit sugar may be eaten in practically unlimited quantities. It supplies the body with heat and energy in the most available form. For this reason, fruit when eaten will quickly relieve the sense of exhaustion. ”

“ The raising of sugar cane is not carried on by large interests, but is divided among a vast number of small farmers, so that it is doubly difficult to secure dependable data concerning the yield and manufacture.
Third: By no means all of the cane that is grown goes to the sugar mills to be ground. Much of it is chewed or eaten in the stalk, and the manufacturing process itself is, in most instances, very primitive. So it is clear that even where the acreage planted to cane is accurately known, it would be a difficult matter to determine the result in sugar. ”

“ Cane juice contains many ingredients besides sugar, the principal of which are albumen, gluten, gum, starch, resin, wax, coloring matter, and certain salts, all of which, either collectively or individually, have the power of preventing granulation, as may be proved by their addition to a syrup of pure sugar, which will then defy all attempts to make it crystallise. If, therefore, we want to make good sugar, we must endeavour to free our cane juice as much as possible from those substances. ”

“ Some people think I do. My mother says so," was Van's indifferent response. "But say, tell me more about sugar. You'd think with my father right in the business I'd know something about it; but I don't. Do they get sugar from anything beside beets, and sugar-cane, and maple sap?"
"Oh, my, yes. There's sugar in ever so many other things: in grapes, and milk, and the date palm, and in maize; but it is from the beet and cane that the most sugar can be extracted." ”

“ The chief source of sugar is large grass (saccharum officinarum) , of which there are several varieties, differing essentially in productiveness, but the best of which is the Otaheita cane, the stem of which is higher, thicker, and more succulent than the Creole cane, and which yields not only one-third more of juice than the Creolian cane on the same space of land; but from the thickness of its stem, and the tenacity of its ligneous fibres, it furnishes much more fuel. ”