SUGAR.
Sugar, like starch, exists naturally formed in many vegetables, and has to be separated from the various foreign matters with which it is combined; the sugar used in this country is all extracted from the juice of the sugar-cane, Arundo Saccharifera, but in France a great portion is extracted from beet-root.
The raw, or Muscovado sugar as it is called, is a brownish compound of small crystals of sugar held together by molasses or treacle, which gives the sugar its color and peculiar moistness; when pure, sugar is quite white and capable of crystallization, as may be seen in sugar candy, which is crystallized sugar; sugar, if heated, becomes converted into a dark brown liquid called burnt sugar or “caramel,” this has an intensely rich color, but scarcely any sweetness; it is used to color wines and spirits. The tendency of sugar to be converted into caramel is very great, and the whole difficulty of sugar refining depends upon this fact, for a solution of sugar heated is constantly changing into this substance.
To obtain the sugar from the sugar cane, it is first crushed between powerful rollers, by which all the juice is pressed out, this is immediately clarified by boiling it strongly with a small quantity of slaked lime, or it would speedily ferment, it is then put into evaporating pans, in which it is evaporated till it is ready to crystallize or granulate; from these pans it is ladled out into a cooler, and from thence into wooden boxes where it granulates; the next process is called “curing” this consists of draining the sugar of its molasses, for this purpose hogsheads or large broad barrels are arranged on a sloping floor, and having several holes at their lower part with a piece of plantain leaf put into them; through these holes the molasses runs out and is collected in a vessel for the purpose.The best kinds of sugar are partly purified by a process called “claying;” this consists in putting the sugar into conical earthen jars, with a hole at the point which is turned downwards; the top is piled up with a mass of wet clay, the moisture from which slowly sinks down, carrying with it most of the coloring matter of the sugar; the cone of sugar is afterwards dried, broken up, and each part ground up separately, as they form sugars of different value, the point being the brownest and the base of the cone the whitest.
Sugar is made from the beet root in the same way as from the cane, the roots being rasped up into a pulp by a wheel with a notched edge acting against them. Beet-root sugar crystallizes better than cane sugar; otherwise it is exactly like it, and purifies as well.