Sugar is a crystallized and white carbohydrate derived from sugar cane, used to sweeten food. It can also be used to preserve sweet foods.
A bit of history
Sugar cane is a plant that humanity has known since time immemorial.
It is supposedly native to the valley of India or New Guinea. Sugar cane reached Europe through the Arabs who already used it.
There are records of its use since ancient Egypt. Its main quality is its high sugar content and the ease of extraction, which can be used to produce different derivatives whose final product is refined white sugar. The Spanish introduced sugar cane to Cuba.
Historically, the main economic sector in Cuba and in various Caribbean countries has been the sugar industry. As a curious fact, plantains were also cultivated in the sugar mills because, in addition to feeding the slaves, their leaves were used to cover the molds of the sugar harvests.
History of sugar cane cultivation in Cuba
Sugar cane arrived in Cuba with the conqueror Diego Velázquez, its cultivation and the subsequent extraction of guarapo and sugar became a common activity among the first settlers and one of the main objects of barter and economy.
The method used was the pressing of the cane in iron mills called 'trapiches'.
The trapiche is an iron mill used to extract the juice from the cane. First, the juice of the cane is extracted in specialized mills, the residue is called bagasse, and it was commonly used as fuel in the same boilers of the mills, thus taking advantage of the whole plant.
The juice from this process, green and acidic, is clarified with lime and heat. The water evaporates, and the remainder is molasses. The molasses goes through other evaporation processes until it crystallizes and undergoes various refinement procedures.
The first sugar cane trapiche in Cuba was built at the end of the 16th century in Havana. Since the plant grew very well, during the following century more than fifty of these mills were still being built until by the end of the century, more than fifty of these mills were in operation.
Global production
However, Cuba was not the main producer of sugar at that time, but the island of Haiti was. What increased sugar production in Cuba was the British takeover of Havana in the mid-eighteenth century and the opening of Cuban trade to the English colonies. Subsequently, the Spaniards regained control of the capital but issued decrees promoting sugar production.
Likewise, the Haitian independence revolution halted sugar production, making its neighbor Cuba the main producer. In one year, Cuba could produce the enormous amount of 6 thousand tons of sugar, with production divided among more than five thousand trapiches.
The golden age of sugar in Cuba began in the early 19th century with the introduction of the steam engine. By the end of that century, Cuba was producing nearly 100 thousand tons of sugar annually and had more than a thousand sugar mills.
Finally, the technological introduction of the steam engine solidified Cuba as a world sugar producer.
Importance of sugar cane cultivation in Cuba
By the early 20th century, Cuba was exporting nearly five million tons of sugar to the world. Most of the sugar industry was managed by foreigners, but when the socialist stage arrived, many mills were expropriated, and more than half of the sugar production began to be produced in central factories belonging to the State.
The sugar industry was one of the economic pillars on which the Cuban revolution was based. And it took a back seat in the Cuban economy only until the decision was made to prioritize tourism in the early 21st century. However, by the 1990s, Cuba was already importing nearly ten million tons of sugar to countries of communist regimes.
In 1960, Cuba stopped exporting sugar to the United States - which imposed an economic blockade - and began exporting it to the Soviet Union - which supported Cuba with agro-industrial mechanization machines. When the Soviet Union disappears and stops buying sugar from Cuba, an economic crisis ensues, causing the sugar market to collapse and forcing it to open to global markets, so state-owned sugar companies become cooperatives.
