Sugar cane

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Sugar cane: uses

• Matrix for the production of sugar
• Latest generation biofuel
• Matrix for alcoholic fermented beverages, spirits and alcohol
• Cultivated also for the fresh sauce (guarapo) obtained by pressing and squeezing the stem

Sugar cane: general description Scientific name: Saccharum officinarum
Family: Grasses
Species observed: about 40
Commercial cultivars: complex hybrids
Origin: New Guinea
Distribution: Spain (Arabs) and Sicily
Cultivation in Italy: sugar cane is not grown
Cultivation in the world: Iberian Peninsula, Asia, America, Oceania and Africa Sugar cane: botanical analysis

• Brief description of the plant: perennial tropical plant with bushy habit
• Height: 4-5 meters
• Rhizome: hard, angular from which numerous woody stems interspersed with nodes emerge
• Stem or culm: one main + lateral. Variable color: yellow, purplish, green or reddish
• Leaves: very long and green, lanceolate and stuck on knots with a sheath that wraps around the stem
• Flowers: gathered in inflorescences called panicles
• Sugar: obtained from a syrupy fluid present inside the stem

Sugar cane: reproduction and maturation Plant reproduction: by cuttings
Transplant: mid-spring
Water supply: abundant
Harvesting: cut the stem in the lower part, do not tear off the root
Timing: Typically, the plant takes 12 months to fully mature Sugar cane processing

• Cutting of the mature culm
• Fragmentation and pressing of the culm
• Extraction of the light, very sweet sauce → the fibrous part is destined to be transformed into energy
• Juice filtration
• Juice purification with milk of lime
• Evaporation and elimination of water
• Centrifugation of the concentrated juice → obtaining the molasses

Raw and refined cane sugar Raw cane sugar: contains 2% impurities
Refined cane sugar: it undergoes a "further purification Brown sugar and beet sugar Brown sugar

• contains less sucrose
• rich in vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B6 and mineral salts
• higher yield of sucrose: 10 t / hectare
• 356 Kcal / 100 g

Beet sugar

• Contains a larger amount of sucrose
• Poor in vitamins and minerals
• Lower yield of sucrose: 7 t / hectare
• 392 Kcal / 100g

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