cane syrup is partially evaporated sugar cane juice. It ranges in color from light amber, resembling grade A maple syrup, to a deep brown-black, not unlike thick molasses.
Making cane syrup was traditionally a way to preserve and store the sweetness of sugar-cane juice, especially when making crystalized sugar was impractical. In the American South cane syrup has often been used for cooking or to sweeten dishes such as grits and cornbread; in the West Indies cane syrup allows rum distillers to store cane juice in bulk far after the sugar harvest concludes. (This may be called “sugar-cane honey.”) In parts of South America, this miel de caña is used to make aguardiente, a (mostly) unaged cane spirit. It is particularly prevalent in Paraguay, where (as caña) it is the national spirit and is sometimes aged to mellow maturity.
The boiling down of cane juice adds burned sugar notes to the syrup. Lighter cane syrup is called for in some tropical drinks, notably ti’ punch, a popular drink in the French West Indies. See Ti’ Punch.
See also sugar cane.
Ferris, E. B. Sugar Cane for Syrup Making. Jackson: Mississippi Agriculture Experiment Station, Bulletin no. 129, 1909.
By: Wayne Curtis