Something about that cane sugar
By Chelsie Vandaveer
February 17, 2004
Suggested Reading: Click here.
In 1493, the Spanish introduced sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum
Linnaeus) to the New World. The "sweet spice" had been in demand since the
Crusades, a product controlled by Arabic producers and traders. The Spanish
realized the value of the commodity and gained some control when they removed
the Berbers from Spain in 1492. Sugarcane grew well in the Caribbean, but
it would not be until 1516 that the Spanish had a functioning sugar mill
in the New World. (See Plants that Changed History, November 6, 2001)
Sugar
ferments easily, yeast present on the plants becomes mixed with sugar-laden
liquid as it is extracted from the fibrous stems. Under anaerobic (without
air) conditions, yeast metabolizes sugar breaking its carbon-to-carbon bonds.
The by-products are carbon dioxide and ethanol. By 1620, people living in
the Caribbean, specifically Barbados, knew that the leftovers of sugar production,
allowed to stand for a while, made a pretty intoxicating drink.
In
1655, Oliver Cromwell organized an army to attack Spanish held areas in the
Caribbean. In May, the English captured Jamaica from the Spanish. Sometime
after that, the English began distilling the fermented cane sugar. Distillation
boils the ethanol out of the water, greatly increasing the "proof" of the
drink. Sugar was in high demand in Europe and the American colonies, but
this new drink, rum, was a real money maker.
In
1747, Andreas Marggraf extracted sugar from beets and other root crops. Marggraf
showed that sugar (sucrose) was sugar whether extracted from cane or from
beets. After the sugar beet was developed, some of the cane sugar market
was lost. But not the rum market. Beet sugar ferments, but only the ferment
of cane sugar contains a high proportion of esters that make the liquor,
rum. ("Rum", Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911)
According
to Rebecca Tortello, by 1893, almost ninety percent of the sugar cane under
cultivation in Jamaica belonged to estates that had their own mills and distilleries.
("Jamaican Rum--A kill-devil of a drink", Rebecca Tortello, Pieces of the Past, Jamaica Gleaner, 2002)
The
Appleton Jamaica Rum Estate is the oldest rum distillery on the island of
Jamaica. To learn more about the history of the estate or how rum is produced,
click on the link:
http://www.appletonrum.com/
Suggested Reading:
Something about that cane sugar Plants that Changed History - February 17, 2004
Could a natural horror benefit sugar beet growers? Renfield's Garden - November 14, 2001
What twelve plants supply most of the food our world consumes? Plants that Changed Hist - 8/21/01
How did the Spanish break Arab control of the sweet spice? Plants that Changed History - 11/06/01
How did sugar beets help a woman win two Nobel Prizes? Plants that Changed History - 11/29/02
What medicinal root is a common vegetable today? Herbal Folklore - November 12, 2001
Lord Nelson, Napoleon, and the Silesian Beet Plants that Changed History - November 13, 2001
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