Sugar Cane syrup info

[Kahoona]

I have a question and I am hoping that someone here can point me in the right direction. I have gotten myself into an odd hobby lately. I grew some Cane. It is tough stuff since it took the full 160mph winds of Irma and survived. I got a press for Christmas. I am not into drinking the cane juice although it is popular now. I want to make cane syrup to sweeten coffee, tea or anything else. I found that after pressing the canes I need to filter the juice then boil it down while skimming the junk off of it, then more slowly boil until it evaporates. I did that. It is harder to get the skimming right that you would think but I did get syrup.
Here is the problem. The fresh cane juice that is sold to tourists has a grassy flavor. Once cooked down it intensifies. It is really a bit too much for my tastes. I was hoping for a raw sugar flavor. Has anyone here done this? Can anything be done to take the edge off of that grassyness? I can't find a board or site on home sugaring. I would expect that there would be one though. Lots of Utube but nothing about the grassy flavor though.

 

[Fat Point Ja]

We used to go to a cane grinding/syrup making party. An old cracker friend of my wife's family grew his own cane. He had a tractor driven press to squeeze the juice out. It then went into a 4 foot diameter cast iron wok that was above a firebox. Him and his buddies would keep it simmering for a long, long time. They used metal coffee cans with the bottoms cut out and rags wired around to continuously stir and strain. It was then poured off into pitchers to cool and then to bottles which they sold on their summer bluegrass music festival tour.

The syrup is nothing like any from maple. It is a real raw earthy flavor. Grassy is part of the flavor. It's been several years since I've had some. I preferred just sucking on the raw cane.

 

[usedto]

If you look into processing sugar beets into sugar, you can find a little more in-depth description of the process, which includes:

" Impurities in the raw sugar juice are removed by mixing the juice with milk of lime treated with carbon dioxide gas.

Similar searches for cane processing seem to breeze over some of the processes.

If you want to read more:http://geo.msu.edu/extra/geogmich/beetindustry.html

 

[gadget73]

I've seen and helped do sorghum, which is pretty similar to cane. It also has a bit of a grass sort of taste to it. Same essential process though, squeeze the juice out, heat to boil out the water, scrape the crap off the top as you go.

My mom's ex husband's parents lived next to a farm that grew the stuff. We were over there a few times when it was harvest time and i was helping them skim the syrup while it was simmering. Been a bunch of years since I had any though.

 

[thomo57]

Worked in a sugar mill for 20 years and could give you a run down on how the process of sugar cane to crystal goes.
Worked on the effets stage which is the boiling down stage of the syrup after crushing and clarification for about 3 years
The pan stage where the crystal growth occurs for about 8 years and the centrifugals where the separation of the molasses and sugar is done for about 8 years.
On the pan stage in an 8 hour shift we dropped 800+ tons of sugar/molasses.
But all this is beside the point.

I remember the taste of the syrup after clarification and the effet stage had a nutty taste

 

[Kahoona]

Thanks guys. Seems that no matter what the topic somebody here knows about it. So I will read about the beets. Looks like I have to work on my skimming but the cans with the cheesecloth sounds like a good way. That milk of lime is available on Amazon and I might have to try it. I might have cooked it too hard too. It'll take practice. I'll post back when the cane grows enough to take another try!

 

[squirrelnest]

Noticed you live on Big Pine Key.....I have a friend who lives there....on Doctors Arm. Did the No Name Pub survive the storm?

 

[Kahoona]

Noticed you live on Big Pine Key.....I have a friend who lives there....on Doctors Arm. Did the No Name Pub survive the storm?

Yes. Glad to say that it came through fine. Being a heavily timbered low building on higher ground it was OK. Doctors arm was not damaged badly either. Roofs and rain damage mostly. Still not nice but not major. It was the East and Southeast parts that were hit the worst. I am in the Eden Pines section where the structures did well but we got three feet of contaminated water that came through like a freight train while the wind blew down non-native trees and peeled off roofs. Same deal in Doctors arm.

 

[onepixel]

I should know this, but I don't. I grew up surrounded by a sea of green. The last sugar cane fields and plant on Maui/US closed operations last year.

Good luck with your syrup.

 

[Fat Point Ja]

The first time I drove around the south coast of Lake Okeechobee, a field of cane was being cut the old fashioned way, by hand and machete. Brutal work.

 

[Kahoona]

That must have been a long time ago! We saw that in Barbados and visited the mill. I wouldn't want to have to do that.