Sugarcane the Sweetness King

I’m going to introduce a super element which you all are already familiar about. In this article I will be sharing with all of you the benefits of sugarcane consumption, but before that let’s have a brief look on what is sugarcane, where it is found and where it exists. Let’s take you on the journey of sugarcane, which is from a solid hard stem to refined sugar particles.

Sugarcane is tall perennial true grasses that exist in tropical regions of South Asia and Melanesia, and used for sugar production. It has stout, joined, fibrous stalks that are rich in the sugar sucrose, which assembles in the plant stem. The plant is two to six meters ( six to twenty feet) tall. 

Brazil was the largest producer of sugar cane in the world. The next five major producers, in decreasing amounts of production, were India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, and Mexico. Sugar cane grows for 12 to 16 months before being harvested between June and December each year. When harvested, the cane stands two to four meters high.

There are two stages required for processing sugarcane .i.e. milling and refining. From the freshly harvested cane, mill extracts the raw sugar which is used for local consumption. Sugar crystals appear through crystallization and evaporation process. Whereas, refineries produce refined white sugar which is 99 percent sucrose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarcane

Photo Credits: Habiba Azhar

Some super facts about sugarcane:

• Raw sugarcane stems are chewed as a sweet candy/ snack in many countries Pakistan is one of those countries.
• Sugarcane juice is extracted by running through small mills.
• Sugarcane is used as a sweetener in kheer, ice cream, rice, shrimps, etc

So let’s talk about benefits of sugarcane

• To fight all that fatigue stressing you out in this warm weather, sugarcane juice is the answer to that, it gives you instant energy after drinking.
• It helps in maintaining healthy kidney functioning or in treating any kidney disorder because it boosts the protein level of your body.
• Helps in facilitating smooth functioning of excretory system.
• It helps prevent prostate and breast cancer as it is alkaline in nature.
• Sugarcane juice helps in maintaining your weight.
• It helps reducing burning sensations.
• If you are having a bad day because you have a sore throat, flue or cold just drink sugarcan juice, it will definitely help.
• The proteins you lose during fever, you can restore it by drinking sugarcane juice.
• It helps in the treatment of jaundice.

-HA