For a majority of Indians their first love is “doodh waali chai” with a large amount of sugar. It is also a well known fact about the love that exists between the Indians and the sweets. The basic ingredients of all these eatables which are a source of happiness for us is SUGAR. When the different forms of sugar goes in our system they not only boost our immune system , maintains over all health but also boost up our energy levels.

Ever wondered how this crystalline dose of happiness was first created? Sugar comes from the crop of Sugarcane of which India is the second largest producer. Today India has 732 sugar mills both private and government runned with Uttar Pradesh leading in the sugar production in India. The crop of sugarcane provides employment to nearly 50 million farmers and over 5 lakh workers directly employed in the sugar mills in the country. Further, sugar is not the only product extracted from sugarcane, sugarcane juice is a very popular summer drink in India and jaggery a sweet brown mass is like a national sweet for winters which is also said to maintain the immune system in the chilly winters of the North.

A product of such vast food value has a great industrial value as well as provides 7.5 % of employment in the Indian economy and has over 1% contribution in the GDP value. Read the blog further to know about the history of the production of this big stick of juice which has a great cultural and monetary significance .

Although sugar was being used in India from time immemorial , there was no sugar industry in India before 1904 which was set up in Saran, Bihar. Prior to that the juice from sugar cane was extracted and the crystals formed on boiling the juice were used as sugar . Though the crystals were not as refines as the sugar we get today , it served the purpose. These crystals were called SARKARA in the ancient times which mean sgravel in Sanskrit. The word sugar is a derivative from Sarkara.

BY-Products of Sugarcane and its industrial value

Bagasse and Molasses are the two major by products of sugarcane which holds a great industrial value.

Bagasse is the heterogeneous fibrous residue that remains after sugarcane stalks are crushed for sugar extraction. Typically, from processing 100 tons of sugarcane in a factory, 30–34 tons of bagasse is obtained . Bagasse is mainly used in cellulose based industries such as pulp, paper, particle boards and as a cattle fodder. In order to conserve the forests, initiatives are being taken to replace the wooden products by equally sustainable material. Bagasse based particle board and fibre based board plants are set up to produce wooden boards which are used as a wood replacement in making table tops, office racks, partition ceilings etc.

Molasses is the final mother liquor leftover after the crystallization of sugar which is sent out of the factory. However, the total sugar content of molasses is 45–55 per cent. It is by virtue of this total content that molasses is a valuable raw material for the production of many value-added products. The main products that can be produced from it on commercial scale are ethyl alcohol, citric acid, lactic acid, cattle feed, oxalic acid, bakers yeast, mono sodium glutamate, torula yeast, lysine etc which are some of great industrial value being used in one or the other industries. In addition to this, many alcohol-based chemicals like acetic acid, acetic anhydride, acetone, ethyl acetate, ethyl benzene, styrene, poly-styrene, poly-ethylene and synthetic rubber are also produced using cane molasses.

The historical and cultural value of sugarcane

There are references of sugarcane cultivation, its crushing and preparation of Gur ( jaggery) in Atharva Veda as well as Kautaliya’s Arthasastra. Also, the scribes of Alexander the Great, who happens to visit India in 327 BC recorded that the inhabitants chewed a marvelous reed which produced a kind of honey without the help of bees,which was a reference to none other than the famous jaggery. Also, the Indian religious offerings contain five ‘Amrits’ (elixirs) like milk, curd, ghee (clarified butter), honey and sugar — which indicates how important sugar is not only as an item of consumption but as an item which influences the Indian way of life.

It is fascinating to know how a crop which is hardly 3 to 4 m in height is of such value and importance in the Indian sub continent.