Raw Cane Sugar at the Sugar Mill

Sugarcane is a giant tropical grass grown for the sucrose in its stems. Cut by machine or by hand and chopped into lengths, it goes quickly to the mill, where the juice is pressed out with water or extracted by diffusion. The juice is clarified with lime and heated to destroy enzymes, then concentrated in a series of evaporators. The supersaturated syrup is seeded with sugar crystals so sugar crystallises out. What does not crystallise is molasses, and the crushed fibre, bagasse, is burned to power the mill. The product is raw sugar: crystals with a sticky brown coating, used as it is or refined.