Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
Full of sugar
|
Fresh cane juice is a popular summer drink but offers little nutrition.
|
SUGARCANE ORIGINATED in the South Pacific Islands and New Guinea, and it can be found in all parts of the world - from hot and sunny Spain in the north to cool and temperate South Africa down under. Sugarcane has been growing in India for thousands of years, and Europe's first contact with the plant was when Alexander's army swept across Northern India in the 4th century BC. Production of sugar by boiling the cane was discovered in India around 500 BC.
The Persians came across this crop in the 6th century AD. Soon it spread to Spain, which became a major producer of sugarcane by the 12th century AD. Columbus, on his second voyage, carried sugarcane from the Canary Islands to what is now the Dominican Republic, and the first sugarcane mill in the Americas began operation there in 1516 AD.
In terms of biomass harvested and transported, sugarcane is the largest crop in the world. Although beetroot is an important source of sugar in temperate zones, the world's main source of sugar is sugarcane. Cane sugar is the sweetener of choice in candy, cakes, soft drinks, jams and other foods. The bamboo-like plant is also important in the manufacture of cane syrup, rum, wax, and molasses - the thick syrup leftover during sugar manufacture.
Theophrastus called molasses `honey produced from reeds'. The alcoholic distillate of molasses is rum. Ethanol made from molasses is used in vinegar, pharmaceutical, solvent and cosmetics industries. Gasohol, a bio-fuel made from sugarcane alcohol, has the potential to replace fossil fuels. Most of Brazil's cars run on gasohol. Bagasse, the fibrous residue of cane processing, is a fuel and is also used in cardboard and paper manufacturing. Next to lime juice, fresh cane juice is the most popular summer drink in India, but apart from sucrose (60 calorie worth) it offers little nutrition. You are better off drinking any other fruit juice. The young flower-like tops of the canes are delicious raw, steamed or toasted. Just 100 g of this inflorescence contains 25 calories, and it is rich in Vitamin C, thiamine and calcium. Cane juice is a folk remedy for rheumatic arthritis, boils, laryngitis and sore throat. Sugarcane pulp is a poultice in folk medicine, and the stiff canes are used to splint broken limbs. In South East Asia and in South India, sugarcane is used to make elephants `sagacious', and so far, this appears to be the only remedy attributable to sugarcane that really works. Too bad we are not elephants.
R. M.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
|
