Tag: sugar

  • Making Sugar from Cane and Beets

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    In the continuing study of sugar, today we'll look at how sugar is made today.  According to Sugar.org, this is how sugar is made from either beets or cane.  For sugar cane: ❧ Grinding the cane to extract the juice;❧ Boiling the juice until the syrup thickens and crystallizes;❧ Spinning the crystals in a centrifuge…

  • Sugarcane and the Environment

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    For the most part rum is made from molasses, the byproduct of sugar production. So when we study the issue of the environmental impact of sugarcane production we need to keep in mind that molasses is the waste product of sugar production. Rum is recycling! That said, we're studying not just sugar but sugarcane production…

  • Sugar in Early American History

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    In studying sugarcane and sugar, we've looked at its biology, origins, spread to the West, association with forced labor, how it was processed in the olden days, and how the English developed a taste for it. (Go here for the project index.) Now we'll look at sugar in America. Again I have used these resources…

  • Solid Liquids: Cane Sugar, Fruit Sugar, and Honey

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    I hit a snag in the Solid Liquids Project (project index here) as I can get some liqueurs to dehydrate into a powdered sugar, but not others. In the last two posts, I think I've identified a commonality in the liqueurs that did not crystallize: they are probably sweetened with something other than (or possibly…

  • Sugarcane and Slavery

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    Boy is this ever a topic I'd rather avoid! However there is no denying the historic link between sugarcane production. We were tracing the spread of sugarcane and the sugar industry from the Old World to the new. But slave labor used to harvest and process sugarcane began long before sugarcane was brought to the…

  • The Spread of Sugarcane in the New World

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    When we last left off looking at sugarcane's spread from India/Indonesia to the rest of the world, the sugar industry had shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic islands of Spain and Portugal, including Madeira and the Canary islands.  During this time, the powers in Europe were developing a taste for sugar.  Sugar was only…

  • The Spread of Sugarcane in the Old World

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    In the last post we looked at what sugarcane is. Now we'll see where it came from and how it traveled around the world.   Sugarcane is a tall grass native to the region of the India and Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated in New Guinea, perhaps independently in Indonesia.   In 325 BC Alexander…

  • Studying Sugar: A Resource List

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    In the Sugar Spirit Project, I've had to use several sources to research material, so I figured I'd list them on this page should you want to read them yourself or check my work. I'll add to the list as I use more resources.   Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History…

  • Sugar Spirit: What is Sugarcane?

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    In the Sugar Spirit project, we're going to look at sugar's history and production, but first we should establish what sugar and sugarcane are.  Sugar and Sucrose When we talk about sugar, we mean table sugar, or sucrose.  To chemists, sugar refers to a class of 'edible crystalline carbohydrates' that also includes fructose and lactose.…

  • Announcing the Sugar Spirit Project

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    Today marks the launch of the second Sponsored Project on Alcademics: The Sugar Spirit. The Sugar Spirit Project is sponsored by Bacardi Rum.  Rum is made from any sugarcane derivative and is the real sugar spirit, but in this research project I'll primarily be studying sugar itself. In writing about cocktails, we often come across recipes…