KARIMPU- THE SUGAR CANE Dearfriends,
I wasthinking of writing about sugar cane for pretty long time. If somebody is thereto well remove the tough skin, cut sugar cane to pieces and give, it is very delicious to eat. Yellowsugarcane is thin comparing to violet colour variety. But more sweet. Peoplewith artificial teeth afterroot canal fitted to gum can chew sugar cane. Streetvendors were there in Chennai with crushing sugar cane machine before COVID beginningin March 2020. Sugar cane were cleanedand juice extracted and filtered gave to customers adding with ice and slightginger/lime in disposable cups. After taking one cup, it would prompt most to consumeone more cup. It was hygienically preparedand given. Mostly they stored yellow thin sugar canes. Let me continuemy karimpu puranam. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan29-4-2021 1. Mannam sugar Mills- Pandalam When Iwas about 15 or so the NSS opened their factory at Pandalam for preparing sugarand allied products. I could see Lorries going in queue to sugar mills atMangaram, where exactly the factory was located. The factory did not survivefor long period for its own reasons. I confirmed by google search once againbefore this posting. At thattime there was a revolution of growing sugar canes converting paddy fields inour area. Still another sugar factory at Pulimkeezhu near Thiruvalla is running about20 KM from my home. I haveconfirmed through google search for the proper functioning of the factory byTravancore sugars and products. 2. Sugar from the stem In sugarcane the stem stores sugar. Where as in sweet potato it is stored in the tuber. The content of sugar is much more in sugarcane comparing to sweet potato. 3. Cutting period The sugarcanes are cut from the bottom after about three weeks, they have flowered. Theflowers are white in colour. After cutting in the bottom, the top portion nearflower for about one foot is discarded. This area has extract with lessersweetness and extract is also less. 4. By products Invillages from the extract calledpani, with suitable boiling jaggery is obtained. In Malayalam it iscalled sarkara.Tamil it is called vellam.However now we have vellam to the size of a big mango or small coconut iscommon in shops. The old pathiyansarkara in semi liquid form in Kerala has practically disappeared. 5. Bagasse and molasses Afterextracting the juice, the remains of the stem is called bagasse. It is fed tocattle. Theprocess of making ethanol from sugarcane starts when cane stalks are crushed toextract a sugar-rich cane juice. When canestalks passed through extractor/ expeller, cane juice is collected anddelivered to a fermentation tank where the yeast fermentation reaction occursto generate ethanol. Molassesis a thick syrup that people use as a sweetener. It is a by-product of thesugar-making process, and it comes from crushed sugar cane or sugar beets.First, manufacturers crush sugar cane or sugar beets to extract the juice. Theythen boil down the juice to form sugar crystals. Traditionally,molasses is the syrup left over when cane or beet sugar is made into tablesugar. But molasses today is often made by blending the syrup with a sugarsolution, which ensures uniform quality. ... Blackstrap molasses is the onlyform with any nutritional pluses, notably iron, calcium, and potassium 6. Manufacturing sugar process I neverfelt the process of manufacturing sugar is such complicated till I visited asugar factory in Mohanur near Namakkal. Even for crystallization it takes about 18 hours of the juice. Bonechar—often referred to as natural carbon—was widely used by the sugar industryas a decolorizing filter, which allows the sugar cane to achieve its desirablewhite color. Recently Iread about methods used without the useof bone char to produce sugar. 7. Eating sugar no papa As a boyI was interested to eat sugar whenever occasion arised. But we cannot eat sugaras it is more than one or two spoons. We get fed up. But acoffee or tea without sugar is not tasty to tell the fact though I take nosugar coffee for years together now. (Occasional exemptions are there while injourney or in hotel etc.) Childrenlike iddali added with slight sugar. In Palpayasam sugar is added forsweetness. For consuming uppuma and pongal necessarily sugar is required. In Karnataka, hotels add sugar in rasam and sambar.Of course tastes good. 8. Crystal sugar and powder sugar These aretwo varieties of sugar. Powder sugar may slightly less in sweetness comparingto crystal sugar. Now in many restaurants we get sugar cubes along with coffee.We can add cubes as we like 9. Growing sugar canes Thoughnormally grown in fields, we can grow three or four in homes also if space isthere. The propagation is through stem cutting and planting. The premises haveto be well cleaned if grown in houses. Always dry leaves would be falling. Nearthe open well in my residence at home, a few sugar canes violet were there inmy boyhood days. But they tasted less sweet. 10. Sugar cane cut as prasadam My eldestbrother told me once that there is a temple in Andhra Pradesh where sugar canepieces are given as prasadam. 11. Fibre content of sugar cane. Becauseof the visible fibres, by eating a few pieces by chewing well, it is told the teethwould become clean and fresh and foul smell would vanish. 12. Pongal and sugar cane. Normallyfor Pongal preparation in the outside, two full grown sugar canes are cut anderected with its leaves in an arch from and Pongal pana is placed in an oven inmiddle. Tamilnadu government gives foreach family all ingredients and onesugar cane before Pongal through Ration outlets to those having ration card. 13. Karimpu thinnan kooliyo There isa saying in Malayalam- wages for eating sugar cane? This means already overpaid- again bonus payments? 14. Elephants and sugar cane Theelephants find it delicious to eat sugar cane. If the cultivating area is nearforests, they may encroach to sugar cane fields for eating. So cultivators makevigil to ward of them by drumbeating etc. 15. Kama deva and sugar cane. Kamadevahas his bow made of sugar cane. 16. Keeping sugar packet. It isadvised to keep a small packet of sugar in the hand bag by DIABETIC PATIENTSwho take medicines or insulin. Or it can be sweet biscuits also. At any time blood sugar may falllow in journey. It could be felt suddenly. Sugar eating may solvethe problem and is most practical. Especiallythose taking insulin, low sugar may occur for many reasons and if sugar orsugar products is not taken may even lead to unconsciousness on becoming sugarlow. Sugar will not decay and hence no problem of keeping in a paper bag. Theeffect of low sugar may vary from person to person. For some it may not beserious feeling, for some it become really serious. I have taken my blood sugar readings aftertaking- coffee with sugar, and eating biscuits in train journey. It was justnormal. The cautionto carry sugar in hand during train journey was told to me by a new MBBS doctorin 1998, while blood sugar was detected. I follow it till today. Insleeper coaches and chair cars coffee is given added with sugar. A greatfortune I would say. This is an edited posting with additions ofan earlier one posted on 10-10-2011. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1009305451.1558556.1619712527069%40mail.yahoo.com.
