Cane syrup is a natural sweetener made from sugarcane juice during the refining of sugar; it is also called by different names in different regions of the world. Cane syrup is also known as gold star, first syrup, fancy molasses, or grade ‘A’ molasses; it is the first type of molasses produced after the first boiling. This syrup is used in the sweetening of many recipes such as puddings, pancakes, juices, and smoothies. You will see how to make cane syrup at home.
Table of Contents
Uses
The main use of this syrup is in the sweetening of food or recipes. Some cane syrup recipes include:
Ingredients
You only need sugarcane to make your own diy cane syruo
How to make cane syrup at home
Extracting sugarcane juice
- The back of sugarcane is first scraped and peeled off to leave on the pulp.
- Chop the pulp into smaller pieces to make it easier for blending in a blender. You can grate the sugarcane pulp into very tiny sizes.
- Once you have blended or grated the sugarcane, you now need to extract the sugar cane juice.
- Place a sieve over a bowl and use your hand to squeeze the grated or blended pulp to release the sugarcane juice; continue until all the juice is extracted.
Boiling the sugarcane juice
- Place a pot over heat and pour the sugar cane juice into the pot.
- Boil on medium heat, ensuring you leave the pot open to allow evaporation of the water content in the sugarcane juice.
- Continue to boil and stir the juice until you begin to see some greenish frothy residue that forms on top of the juice. You can use a spoon to scoop the greenish residue.
- Keep stirring until the water content starts to reduce; as it reduces, the sugarcane juice begins to thicken and the color starts to change to amber. Depending on the amount of juice you have, this process may take a few minutes to hours. It took me about 25 minutes to reach this stage for 7 liters of sugarcane juice.
- Depending on the consistency of syrup you want to make, once the syrup starts thickening but yet runny, you can turn off the heat and allow it to cool. The color at this point should be amber or yellowish.
- When it cools, some sugar crystals may form, which can be removed and the remaining liquid is your cane syrup. If your sugarcane juice is small, crystals of sugar may not form and the thickened liquid is your cane syrup.
Storage
You can preserve it in an airtight container and use it whenever needed as a sweetener. It can last for up to 1 year if properly covered and refrigerated.
Cane syrup Substitute
Some replacements for this syrup in sweetening of food include:
- Corn syrup (glucose syrup) – this is very sweet and it is also known as glucose syrup.
- Maple syrup –
- Caramel – made from granulated sugar and most of the benefits of sugarcane juice have been removed during the process of making sugar.
Benefits of Cane syrup
Cane syrup contains many minerals such as vitamin B6, manganese, copper, iron, magnesium, and potassium. These nutrients are good for the body but cane syrup has sugar in concentrated form, of which eating it in excess could be bad for you because of the calories it adds. More so, the minerals and vitamin B6 are not as concentrated as that of blackstrap molasses. Therefore, the use of this syrup should be with moderation.