Transcript Document

Sugar Changed
the World
Sugar Production Then and Now
Then
Edward King, 1848-1896
and James Wells
Champney, 1843-1903,
illustrated by
The Great South; A
Record of Journeys in
Louisiana, Texas, the
Indian Territory, Missouri,
Arkansas, Mississippi,
Alabama, Georgia,
Florida, South Carolina,
North Carolina, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Virginia, West
Virginia, and Maryland.
Hartford, Conn.: American
Publishing Co., 1875.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/
king/ill60.html
Slaves working
in the sugar cane
fields.
http://www.uta.edu/stud
entorgs/thso/Symposia/2
008symposium_files/ima
ge003.jpg
Slaves in the West
Indies feeding sugar
cane into a vertical
mill and working a
boiler,
which was among
the most arduous
and dangerous jobs
a Caribbean slave
could be
burdened with.
Sugar was classed as
a drug/drogue/droga
by early modern
European
medical authorities,
and played a key
role in a number of
medical concoctions.
http://resobscura.blogsp
ot.com/2010/11/comple
at-history-of-druggs.html
Title: A representation of the sugar-cane
and the art of making sugar
Creator(s): Hinton, John, -1781, publisher
Date Created/Published: 1749.
Medium: 1 print : engraving, handcolored.
Summary: Print shows sugarcane
processing, probably in the West Indies,
with a white overseer directing Natives at
a press(?) and boiling operation.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-7841
(b&w film copy neg.)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on
publication.
Call Number: PGA - Hinton-Representation of the sugar-cane ... (A
size) [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
20540 USA
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item
/2004670227/
Sugar. An engraving from
Theodore de Bry's Grand
Voyages, 1590–1597, shows a
colonial sugar processing
operation using native labor.
THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=G
ALE%7CCX3404901090&v=2.1&u=vol_
c67s&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=3d7c
1c5b52543d8296ecfcf77783c665
Now
Planting
Sugarcane is grown by replanting part of
a mature cane stalk. Farmers cut some
of the fully grown cane stalks into 40 cm
lengths called “setts”.
These setts are planted by special
machines, which drop them into furrows,
add fertilizer and cover them with soil.
This process can also still be done by
hand.
http://www.unlockingthearchives.org/resources/images/sugar-cane-planting---enlar.jpg
http://www.canegrowers.com.au/icms_docs/118836_schools_fact_sheet_paddock_to_plate.pdf
Harvesting
Heavy-duty machines called cane harvesters
cut the cane stalks off the plant at the base.
As they move down each row, the cane is
collected and cut into shorter 30 cm length
pieces known as “billets”.
A second machine called a cane haulout
drives along side the harvester to collect the
billets.
http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/16/110316-004-4D25F0E7.jpg
http://www.canegrowers.com.au/icms_docs/118836_schools_fact_sheet_paddock_to_plate.pdf
Milling
Sugar mills crush cane to extract and separate the
sucrose (sugar) from the water, impurities and plant
fiber contained in the billets. Using a computerized
scheduling system, the sugarcane is monitored as it
moves through a four-step milling process.
1.
2.
3.
4.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/h7NaEF44zO8/0.jpg
http://www.canegrowers.com.au/icms_docs/118836_schools_fact_sheet_paddock_to_plate.pdf
Weigh and Record
Sugarcane is weighed and processed at automatic cane-receiving
stations as soon as it arrives a the mill.
Chop and Shred
The billets are then tipped into a cane carrier and transported to the
shredder where they are chopped and shredded into fibrous material.
This process ruptures the juice cells.
Crush
The cane material is then crushed as it is fed through a series of mills.
Three large rollers arranged in a triangle formation, separate the juice
from the fibrous material. This process separates the juice from the
bagasse, which is fibrous material used as fuel to run the mill’s boiler
furnaces.
Heat and Cool
The juice is pumped away for processing into raw sugar. It is cleaned to
remove impurities and thickened into a syrup by boiling off excess water.
It is then seeded with tiny sugar crystals in a vacuum pan and boiled until
sugar crystals have formed and grown. These crystals are separated
from the molasses around them in centrifuges that are like giant spin
dryers. The crystals are then tumble-dried and stored in large bins until
ready for export.
Refining
The raw sugar is stored in large warehouses and
then transported into the sugar refinery by means
of transport belts. In the traditional refining process,
the raw sugar is first mixed with heavy syrup and
centrifuged to wash away the outer coating of the
raw sugar crystals, which is less pure than the
crystal interior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_refinery#mediaviewer/File:Redpath_Sugar_Plant_Toronto_2010.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_refinery