More about Muscovado
Sugar
These can be other foods eaten at the same time, or
from the body's own stores in tissue and bone. When
we eat sugar, we lose B vitamins, minerals such as calcium,
iron, phosphorus and other nutrients from our own healthy
cells. As the alkaline minerals are depleted from our
bodies, we become more and more acidic. Our bones become
weakened as calcium is constantly withdrawn from them
to accommodate our sweet tooth and the resulting decline
in the body's pH.
One reason sugar gives us intense
cravings is that our bodies are looking for these missing
nutrients. Ironically, we often look for more sugar
to fix it, which makes the cycle worse and leads to
perpetual snacking and binges. It also leads to chronic
over-stimulation of the endocrine system, which detects
that the body has just loaded up with calories, but
can't find the nutrients that should naturally accompany
them.
Natural sugar, such as Muscovado,
still contains the mineral and vitamins originally in
the sugar cane plant. Refined white sugar is almost
totally void of these healthy bio-chemicals.
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How is Refined Sugar
Made?
Sugar cane is a tropical grass that
grows 10-20 feet high. It is grown in most tropical
countries and in four states within the US. A stalk
of the sugar cane plant contains 12-14%
sucrose. The process of separating the sugar
from the sugar cane plant is accomplished
in two steps: at sugar mills and at sugar refineries.
The largest producer of sugarcane
is Asia, which is then followed by South America and
North America. In the U.S. a major crops are grown in
Hawaii and in Louisiana.
The Sugar Mills are located near the sugar cane fields.
It is here that the raw sugar is separated
from the plant and shipped to a refinery. Raw
sugar that leaves the sugar mills is similar
to "turbinado" sugar, and "sugar in the
raw". It is similar to white refined sugar, but
the crystals have a light tan color. A 4 gram serving
size contains 4 grams of carbohydrates, and is not considered
a source for any vitamins, minerals or fiber.
Extraction
At the mill, the sugar cane is chopped with knives
and then crushed by large rollers. The extracted juice
is then clarified/cleaned to remove soil and impurities.
The extracted juice is clarified by adding milk of lime
and carbon dioxide.
Clarification
- The process of separating insoluble suspended matter
and some soluble substances from cane juice, to produce
a clear juice.
Carbonatation
- The first stage of processing the liquor is aimed
at removing the solids which make the liquor turbid.
Coincidentally some of the color is removed, too.
One of the two common processing techniques is known
as carbonatation, where small clumps of chalk are
grown in the juice. The clumps, as they form, collect
a lot of the non-sugars, so that by filtering out
the chalk, one also takes out the non-sugars. Once
this is done, the sugar liquor is now ready for decolorisation.
The other technique, phosphatation, is chemically
similar but uses phosphate rather than carbonate formation.
- The carbon dioxide bubbles through the mixture forming
calcium carbonate, a chalk-like crystal, which attracts
the non-sugar plant materials like wax, fats, and
gums from the juice. In a clarifier, the calcium carbonate
and the other materials fall out of the sucrose solution
and settle to the bottom.
- The juice is next, concentrated into a syrup by
boiling off excess water, seeded with raw sugar crystals
in a vacuum pan, and boiled until sugar crystals have
formed and grown. This is the Concentration process.
By removing water from the clarified juice in multiple
stages under vacuum, the juice boils at lower temperatures
to protect the sugar from becoming caramelized. The
juice becomes a clear, rich brown syrup during this
step. The next step the cane juice has to pass through
is the second stage of concentration. More vacuum
and water removal as we approach crystallization.
Boiling
- In the pan even more water is boiled off until
conditions are right for sugar crystals to grow. You
may have done something like this at school, but probably
not with sugar, because it is difficult to get the
crystals to grow well. In the factory the workers
throw in some sugar dust to initiate crystal formation.
Once the crystals have grown, the resulting mixture
of crystals and mother liquor is spun in centrifuges
to separate the two. The crystals are then given a
final dry with hot air before being packed and/or
stored, ready for dispatch.
- Crystallization takes place by evaporating the last
portion of water under very tight controls. In a vacuum,
pulverized sugar is fed into the pan to seed the process
(much like seeding a cloud to make it rain), as the
water evaporates, crystals begin to form. The mixture
leaves the vacuum as a thick crystal mass and is sent
to a centrifuge.
- The boiled mixture is centrifuged to separate the
molasses from the crystals, which are tumble dried
and placed in large storage bins for transport to
bulk sugar terminals or refineries. The centrifuge
is actually a large perforated basket that spins very
rapidly much like a washing machine in the spin cycle,
where the sugar is spun and dried, leaving the mineral
rich molasses behind. The two products produced are
molasses and raw sugar. The raw sugar will go on to
the refinery for further processing. From the centrifuge,
damp sugar is dumped onto a conveyor tray. Unlike
conventional conveyors, the belt is fixed. The entire
bed vibrates and is tilted toward large dryers. This
spreads the sugar out in a more even fashion. If you
were to touch the sugar at this process, you would
find it damp and somewhat clumpy. The last step at
the mill is to dry the raw sugar, then it is sent
off to the refinery.
At the refinery, the raw sugar crystals are
washed and dissolved in hot water to form a syrup. This
first step is called:
Affination
- Phosphoric acid and lime are added to the melted
sugar to remove any impurities in the clarification
process. The liquor, which results from dissolving
the washed crystals, still contains some color, fine
particles, gums and resins and other non-sugars.
- The syrup is pressure filtered through cloth, passed
through decolorizing columns containing activated
carbon, boiled in a vacuum pan and seeded with fine
sugar crystals.
Decolorisation
- There are also two common methods of color removal
in refineries, both relying on absorption techniques
with the liquor being pumped through columns of medium.
One option open to the refiner is to use granular
activated carbon [GAC] which removes most of the color,
but little else. The carbon is regenerated in a hot
kiln where the color is burnt off from the carbon.
The other option is to use an ion exchange resin which
removes less color than GAC, but also removes some
of the inorganics present. The resin is regenerated
chemically, which gives rise to large quantities of
unpleasant liquid effluents.
- The clear, lightly colored liquor is now ready for
crystallization, except that it is a little too diluted
for optimum energy consumption in the refinery. It
is therefore evaporated prior to going to the crystallization
pan. When the crystals are large enough, they are
discharged from the pan, centrifuged to remove excess
liquid and then tumble-dried. The dried sugar is then
graded into required sizes prior to packaging and
supply to customers.
Recovery
- The liquor left over from the preparation of white
sugar and the washings from the affination stage both
contain sugar which it is economically viable to recover.
They are therefore sent to the recovery house, which
operates rather like a raw sugar factory, aiming to
make a sugar with a quality comparable to the washed
raw sugar after the affination stage. As with the
other sugar processes, one cannot get all of the sugar
out of the liquor and therefore there is a sweet by-product
made: refiners' molasses. This is usually turned into
a cattle food, or is sent to a distillery where alcohol
(Rum) is made.
Read more about how white
refined sugar is made
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So
How is Muscovado different?
- Muscovado is pure whole, unrefined,
non-centrifugal cane sugar. It is
also called 'poor peoples sugar'.
- Muscovado retains all of the natural
ingredients of sugar cane, making
it wholesome and healthy. Only pure bee's honey can
compare to Muscovado for natural
goodness.
- The nutritional qualities alone are quite exceptional
and can be compared with honey.
- Muscovado is a natural high energy
food source that quickly replaces lost vigor.
- Muscovado (from the Spanish mascabado,
meaning unrefined) in South Asia is also known as
gur, jaggery, and
khandsari. In Latin America it is
known as rapadura, pamela
or piloncillo. In Colombia is it
called chancaca. Whatever name you
may know if by, this product is unrefined, non-centrifugal
cane sugar with a high molasses (mineral) content.
Although commonly used in Latin America and south
east Asia, these products are relatively difficult
to find in the US.
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This is how Muscovado
Sugar is made
- Our Muscovado is made the old fashioned
way with Kalmansi (a tiny native lime similar to Key
Limes in Florida) and fresh
coconut milk. First the sugar cane is
cut/harvested (by hand). It is washed and then chopped,
soaked and pressed to extract the juice from the sugar
cane. This juice is heated with a little lime juice
added. They also cut coconuts off the trees, grate
the coconut meat and press out fresh
coconut milk, which is sprinkled into the heating
cane juice. This keeps the juice from foaming as it
heats. The resulting Muscovado is
actually about 0.2% coconut milk.
- Once this cane juice becomes thick, it is poured
into cups where it finishes by sun drying. The dried
cane juice is then pounded to yield a natural, unprocessed
sugar, very high in minerals. It is not uniform in
color or texture. It is more "raw" or unprocessed
than any other sugar we have found.
- This "unrefined" sugar is darker in color
than "refined" sugar because it contains
what sugar producers call "impurities."
But these so-called impurities are essential minerals
such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, and
iron, as well as small amounts of fluorine and selenium.
So "refined" sugar has zero nutritional
value, while "unrefined" sugar has significant
nutritional value.
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Here
are some definitions that might help you
Turbinado Sugar
This sugar is a raw sugar which has
been partially processed, removing some of the surface
molasses. It is a blond color with a mild brown sugar
flavor and is often used in tea.
Brown Sugar (light and dark)
Brown sugar consists of sugar crystals coated in a
molasses syrup with natural flavor and color. Many sugar
refiners produce brown sugar by boiling a special molasses
syrup until brown sugar crystals form. A centrifuge
spins the crystals dry. Some of the syrup remains giving
the sugar its brown color and molasses flavor. Other
manufacturers produce brown sugar by blending a special
molasses syrup with white sugar crystals. Dark brown
sugar has more color and a stronger molasses flavor
than light brown sugar. Lighter types are generally
used in baking and making butterscotch, condiments and
glazes. Dark brown sugar has a rich flavor that is good
for gingerbread, mincemeat, baked beans, plum pudding
and other full flavored foods.
Muscovado or Barbados Sugar
Muscovado sugar, a British specialty
brown sugar, is very dark brown and has a particularly
strong molasses flavor. The crystals are slightly coarser
and stickier in texture than "regular" brown
sugar. It is more unprocessed than Turbinado Sugar.
Final molasses
The black syrup, commonly known as molasses or ‘C’
syrup, remaining after the sugar syrup has been boiled
and passed through the centrifugal for the last item
in a mill or refinery. The sugar it contains cannot
be removed economically. A typical analysis of final
molasses includes sucrose (34.1%), reducing sugars (16.5%),
ash (11.3%), water (21.8%) and various sugar, gums and
acids (16.3%). The ash includes calcium, magnesium,
potassium, silicon, iron, phosphorous and other elements
in the form of inorganic salts
Non-centrifugal sugars
In some areas of the world sugar cane juice
is merely evaporated to produce a crude raw
sugar; the sugar crystals are not removed from
the mother syrup in centrifugals. The sugar is generally
consumed where it is produced. Some of these sugars
are known as Jaggery, Gur, Piloncilo and Muscovado.
Jaggery and Gur are made in India by evaporating cane
juice in an open pan. The juice is evaporated to almost
dryness and is then cast in open moulds or loaves. A
large amount of sugar consumed in India is in this form.
Raw Sugar
The sugar crystals separated from massecuite in a centrifugal
in a raw sugar mill. Australian raw
sugar is usually in two grades, either about 98.8% or
97.7% sucrose. Sucrose content is varied to satisfy
the requirements of customers. Australian raw sugar
is commonly made up of 98.8% sucrose, 0.22% reducing
sugars, 0.37% other organic matter, 0.3% ash and 0.31%
water. Australian refined sugar is made up of 99.93%
sucrose, 0.01% reducing sugars, 0.01% other organic
matter, 0.01%ash and 0.04% water.
Refined sugar
Sugar which has passed through the refining process
(involving removal of impurities) making it more suitable
for direct human consumption or use in the manufacture
of other foods. Also known as white sugar.
Sucrose
Commonly referred to as sugar. A carbohydrate having
the chemical composition C12H22O11. It comprises two
simple sugars - glucose and fructose.
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White
sugar is pure carbohydrate, 99.5% sucrose.
It is stripped of all its natural components: water,
minerals and vitamins. These empty calories provide
absolutely no nutritional benefit.