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Development and Extent of the Sugar Industry
as a Whole

In the above outlines of the production of sugar from cane and from beets the development of these industries has been briefly mentioned. Speaking generally, the beet sugar industry has been developed more quickly and more scientifically, but on a less strictly self-supporting basis. Until 1810 there was no beet sugar industry, and in 1852, of the world's supply, the cane furnished six times as much sugar as the beet; but under the application of strict scientific control, often combined with fostering legislation, the beet sugar industry developed until, in 1884, the production of sugar from the two sources was about equal. By 1899 almost twice as much sugar was made from beets as from cane, largely, however, because the sugar industry in Cuba had been almost extinguished by war. After the restoration of peace in Cuba modern methods were introduced into the cane sugar industry there, as was already being done in Hawaii, Java, and other cane-growing countries. In 1907 the production of sugar from beets and from cane was again about equal. The world's production for the year 1912-1913 was estimated at 18,144,638 tons, of which 9,178,574 tons were attributed to the cane and 8,968,064 tons to the beet. The production of each of the ten leading countries for the same year is given by Browne as follows:

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Of the sugar attributed to the "United States and its colonies" somewhat more than half was produced in Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, and somewhat less than half (about 800,000 tons) in the continental United States.

War conditions rendered abnormal the data for the years 1914 and following.

Molasses, Sirups, Honey

Molasses was formerly the mother liquor remaining after the removal of one crop of sugar crystals from the boiled-down juice of the sugar cane. Since the removal of cane sugar by one crystallization is far from complete, the molasses thus obtained was rich in sucrose and contained also much the greater part of the other constituents of the cane juice. Atwater and Bryant, in 1896, report the average of (12) American analyses published before that date as follows:

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The introduction of modern methods into sugar-house practice has tended steadily to remove the sucrose more and more completely, with the result that the amount of molasses is decreased, its sugar content is lowered, and its content of impurities is increased. The term "impurities" is somewhat misleading, since the constituents other than sucrose which cane juice naturally contains are unquestionably of food value; in fact, the molasses is a much less one-sided food than the sugar removed from it. When, however, the ash constituents and amids (or other "nitrogenous extractives ") of the cane juice. are concentrated to such an extent as in the final molasses of a modern raw sugar factory, the product is too strong in flavor to be attractive as human food, and may contain such a high concentration of salts as to throw doubt upon its wholesomeness

when eaten in any considerable quantity. To illustrate the difference in composition between molasses from successive crystallizations of sugar Wiley gives the following typical analyses of "first," "second," and "third" molasses, the composition being reduced to a uniform basis of water content:

TABLE 62. COMPOSITION OF FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD MOLASSES

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According to the definitions and standards of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists: Molasses is the product left after separating the sugar from masse cuite, melada, mush sugar, or concrete, and contains not more than 25 per cent of water and not more than 5 per cent of ash.

This standard would practically confine the term "molasses" as a commercial designation for human food to material of the nature of the "first molasses" of modern sugar manufacture.

Refiner's sirup is, as already explained, the "mother liquor " or residual liquid product obtained in the process of refining raw sugar.

This product is also called "sugar refinery molasses" and sometimes" sugar-house molasses." The latter expression is ambiguous since the term "sugar house" is more commonly applied to the raw sugar factory than to the refinery.

Mixed sirups. Refiner's sirup contains the coloring and flavoring substances which distinguish the brown or yellow raw cane sugar from the white refined sugar (which latter, as it appears in commerce, may have been made either from the cane or the beet).

The characteristic flavor of the raw cane sugar which is thus left in the sirup in the refining process is preferred by many people to the mere sweetness of sucrose or glucose. Hence refiner's sirup is in demand for mixing with commercial glucose sirup (made from corn, as described in Chapter VIII) for the production of "corn sirup with cane flavor."

Other mixed sirups are made from commercial glucose or corn sirup with refined cane sugar sirup (the product in this case being practically colorless), with sorghum sirup made by boiling down the juice of the sorghum cane, or with sirups made by concentrating the juice of the sugar cane without removing any of the sugar. More expensive mixed sirups are those made by mixing either glucose or sucrose sirup with maple sirup.

Maple sirup is the most highly prized of all table sirups. It is made by evaporating the sap of the sugar maple to such a point that the product contains only about 30 per cent of water.

Open-kettle cane sirup, made by boiling down in open vessels the juice of the sugar cane to a consistency similar to that of molasses, is said1 to be a common article of food in the Southern States. The product contains all the sugars and ash constituents of the cane juice, and their relative proportions are changed only in so far as the sucrose is in part hydrolyzed to glucose and fructose, and in part caramelized, giving the sirup a reddish tint.

Honey. Before sugar became a common article of commerce, honey was the chief sweetening material in use. Honey consists chiefly of a mixture of sugars gathered from flowers and more or less changed by the honeybee. It is the only common

1 Wiley's Foods and Their Adulteration.

food material which contains more fructose than glucose. The average of 92 analyses of normal honeys shows:

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In some instances genuine honey has been found to contain as high as 8 per cent of sucrose; more than that would usually be taken as an indication that the honey is either abnormal or adulterated. The differences in flavor are largely due to the characteristic esters (" ethereal " substances) found in the nectar of different flowers.

With the production of sucrose and glucose on a large scale and at a low price, honey has become relatively a luxury, and, except as prevented by legislation, has been largely adulterated with sucrose and glucose sirups. These adulterations are readily detected by chemical analysis, since genuine honey almost always contains enough fructose (levulose) to make it levo-rotatory to polarized light, whereas both sucrose and commercial glucose are dextro-rotatory. Adulteration of honey with "invert sugar," a mixture of equal parts glucose (dextrose) and fructose (levulose), obtained by hydrolysis of sucrose, is much more difficult of detection, since the main constituents of the honey and the adulterant are here the same.

Confectionery

The term "confectionery" covers a variety of products, all artificial or manufactured, consisting largely of sugar of some kind, with flavoring and usually also coloring material either added or developed by cooking processes.

1 Browne, United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry, Bulletin 110.

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