Naples Greenola

We are an organic Co-Op located in Naples, Florida. Feeding families organically since 2009.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Sugarcane?!


We received a box of sugarcane this week from our distributor. I didn't know exactly what to do with it, so we experiemented a little.

I was told to break the cane at the join. So I made a few cuts and broke it with my great arm strength.

I was told to peel it with a peeler, but that didn't work. I used a sharp knife and tapped it in and down the sides, and cut it into slices.

Alex liked it

Luke did not.

No really he liked it!!

Some information about Sugarcane from wikipedia...

In most countries where sugarcane is cultivated, there are several foods and popular dishes derived directly from it, such as:

  • Raw sugarcane: chewed to extract the juice
  • Sugarcane Juice: Combining fresh juice, extracted by hand or small mills, with a touch of lemon and ice to make a popular drink, known variously as ganne ka rass, guarab, guarapa, guarapo, papelón, aseer asab, Ganna sharbat, mosto and caldo de cana
  • Cachaça: The most popular distilled alcoholic beverage in Brazil. Is a liquor made of the distillation of sugarcane
  • Jaggery: Solidified molasses, known as Gur or Gud in India, traditionally produced by evaporating juice to make a thick sludge and then cooling and molding it in buckets. Modern production partially freeze dry the juice to reduce caramelization and lighten its color. It is used as sweetener in cooking traditional entrees, sweets and desserts.
  • Molasses: as a sweetener and as a syrup accompanying other foods, such as cheese or cookies
  • Rapadura: a candy made of flavored brown sugar in Brazil, which can be consumed in small hard blocks, or in pulverized form (flour), as an add-on to other desserts
  • Rum: especially in the Caribbean
  • Syrup: a traditional sweetener in soft drinks, now largely supplanted (in the US at least) by high-fructose corn syrup, which is less expensive
  • Rock candy: crystalized cane juice