SUGAR CANE  INFORMATION

Sugar cane is a tall, perennial grass originally native to tropical southeast Asia. It was brought to the West Indies by Columbus during his second voyage to the New World in 1493. The stems are rich in table sugar (sucrose) which has many uses, including raw sugar or molasses used to make rum. In Brazil, sugar cane is used to make ethanol (ethyl alcohol) to fuel automobiles. During the 1800s, the natural rain forests on many Caribbean islands were obliterated in order to plant sugar cane. Slaves were imported from Africa to work in the cane fields, in many cases under horrible conditions. When the fields became infested with introduced rats, the mongoose of India was imported as a means of biological control. Since the rats were nocturnal and the mongoose diurnal, this predator-prey relationship resulted in a dismal failure. Today the mongoose populations on numerous islands have decimated populations of native birds and reptiles, not to mention the domestic fowl. Because of cheaper labor in other regions of the world, the Hawaiian sugar cane industry is slowly being replaced with other profitable agricultural (fruit) crops and the tourist industry.
 

Sugar cane is propagated vegetatively by cuttings called "setts." A sett is a section of the stem containing lateral buds and a region where adventitious roots develop. Cane fields are often burned prior to harvesting the stems. This removes the unwanted leaves and evaporates much of the water in the stems, thus concentrating the sugar.


The stems of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) are rich in table sugar (sucrose). Raw sugar is brown in color. The thick, brown, sugary syrup produced during the separation of sugar crystals from the ground-up cane is called molasses.

Recently, sugar cane ethanol has been produced to supplement the high energy demand of the worlds market. The left over Bagases is commonly burned to aid in the production of the sugar and can also be used to make paper products.