Hate to break it to you folks, but sugar doesn't come from Walmart, Albertsons, or the Piggly Wiggly. It comes from a plant called sugar cane. Through a relatively simple, but time consuming and labor intensive process, sugarcane juice is converted to raw sugar.
This morning, Amanda and I hiked just outside of Agalteca, a small town nestled in the mountains of Honduras, to observe how sugar cane is broken down into dark, sweet blocks of goodness.
Sugar cane grows in stalks reaching 6 to 15 feet tall. It is first cut down by hand. Using a machete, the workers cut the stalk at the base, and then strip it of it's leaves and flowery plume.
The canes are then loaded onto a wooden cart that is pulled by oxen up the hill to the sugar mill.
The cane is fed through this machine made of a single conveyor belt and heavy iron wheels. The stalks are crushed and the juices are squished out.
The liquid sugar is transferred to a large wooden vat. Fueled by a constant fire underneath the vat, the liquid is brought to a boil.
Until it becomes a thick, bubbling, caramel mess.
Next, the boiling sugar is gradually poured into a second vat, away from the heat. The sugar is stirred constantly to avoid any chunks from forming and to bring it to an even consistency.
When the sugar is blending thoroughly, a team of two then works together to pour the sugar into the square molds to cool.
1 cube costs 20 Lempiras. (Just a little over $1). The sugar can be eaten by itself or used in cooking. It is a special gift especially during the holidays in December and January.
So then you scrape off whatever amount you need, as you need?
ReplyDeleteSweet.
ReplyDelete