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Lee Schierer
12-21-2013, 4:16 PM
Recently while shopping, my wife and I were comparing ingredients in yogurt and noted on one brand that they listed "evaporated cane juice" as the sweetener. Is this a euphemism for sugar? Do they think that people don't know how sugar is made?

Dave Richards
12-21-2013, 5:02 PM
Of course they could have been using sugar from beets or corn instead.

Mike Cozad
12-21-2013, 5:03 PM
I think they are counting on the fact that people don't know how sugar is made. Trader Joes was slapped with a lawsuit earlier this year due to the misleading labeling of packaging by trying to hide sugar in products by adding evaporated cane juice to the ingredient label. I don't know how that turned out, but so few people know how sugar is made that those skimming the label can be lulled into thinking this is some kind of natural sweetener.

Steve Rozmiarek
12-21-2013, 7:07 PM
Speaking as a sugar beet grower, be suspicious of anything cane related. Demand real beet sugar! ;)

Brian Elfert
12-21-2013, 7:27 PM
These days I would think consumers would like to see sugar on the label instead of HFCS. Evaporated cane juice is slightly different from sugar and is sometimes used because consumers think it is a natural sweetener. Isn't sugar already a natural sweetener?

Justin Ludwig
12-21-2013, 7:50 PM
To answer your question: most of America.

Many people still think the food pyramid is the basis on which they should construct their diet. I think it's safer to be uninformed than misinformed these days.

Michael Mahan
12-21-2013, 8:13 PM
These days I would think consumers would like to see sugar on the label instead of HFCS. Evaporated cane juice is slightly different from sugar and is sometimes used because consumers think it is a natural sweetener. Isn't sugar already a natural sweetener?

if it's slightly brown or beige in color it's raw sugar meaning it still has the molasses present & that small amount of molasses adds some flavor that some don't like . refined sugar is the white stuff with the molasses removed by a chemical process IIRC In Maui the cane sugar plants smell really bad down wind
Evaporated cane juice is just raw cane sugar , some foodies do not want Corn Sugar at any cost
ever see a Corn sugar refiner ? I swear it looks just like a Crude Oil refinery but with Stainless Steel pipes
as for beet sugar I'm in the dark on that one but from what I see at the plants near here the process is simple , as there is a whole lotta of that beet product grown here in Calli I'm a firm believer in supporting California growers :)

Steve Rozmiarek
12-21-2013, 8:30 PM
refined sugar is the white stuff with the molasses removed by a chemical process IIRC

I think it's done by redissolving the raw sugar, filtering, recrystallizing then drying in centrifuges in beet sugar, probably the same in the others.

Michael Mahan
12-21-2013, 9:14 PM
I think it's done by redissolving the raw sugar, filtering, recrystallizing then drying in centrifuges in beet sugar, probably the same in the others.

they add something IIRC when the cane sugar is in that dissolved state to make the molasses separate (float)
I've heard beet sugar was better green wise with beets reject material is make into feed ? where in cane it's just burnt that and they also burn the fields before the harvest

Steve Rozmiarek
12-22-2013, 12:54 AM
they add something IIRC when the cane sugar is in that dissolved state to make the molasses separate (float)
I've heard beet sugar was better green wise with beets reject material is make into feed ? where in cane it's just burnt that and they also burn the fields before the harvest

Thats true Mike, the pulp makes good feed for cattle. The molasses does too.

Mike Cutler
12-22-2013, 6:23 PM
Me personally, I'll take sugar, even if they do call it "evaporated cane juice", over HFCS any day. HFCS and me just don't agree. Which may not be a bad thing because I can't eat candy or donuts any more, and soft drinks make me go bonkers. I do miss Donuts though.:(
Can't say about sugar from beets because I don't know if I've ever had it.

Myk Rian
12-22-2013, 6:52 PM
There is a Pioneer sugar plant near Bay City, Michigan.
Big sugar beet producing area.

Dave Anderson NH
12-23-2013, 12:27 PM
Who do they think they're fooling?

My cynical reply is a variation on Abe Lincoln's comment.

You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time.............And that's usually sufficient.

ray hampton
12-23-2013, 3:58 PM
why did the companies switch to small packages --SO THE INFORMATION WILL BE HARDER TO SEE

Michael Mahan
12-23-2013, 4:20 PM
why did the companies switch to small packages --SO THE INFORMATION WILL BE HARDER TO SEE




the 5 pound bag of sugar went to 4 pounds & the price stayed the same
this has been done across the board on all processed dry foods & canned goods as well
smaller quantity & keep the price the same " AT 1ST " then slowly raise the price once the consumer gets used to the smaller packages .

Jim Koepke
12-23-2013, 4:54 PM
Speaking as a sugar beet grower, be suspicious of anything cane related. Demand real beet sugar! ;)

Well, I know you are raising beets... It sounds like you are raising cane! :D

jtk

Mike Henderson
12-23-2013, 4:58 PM
Thats true Mike, the pulp makes good feed for cattle. The molasses does too.

The cane pulp is known as bagasse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagasse)(pronounced bag ass). I grew up in south Louisiana where they grow a lot of sugar cane and we used to buy the bagasse. It comes in bales, compressed pretty tight. Unfortunately, it's not a feed and has no feed value that I'm aware of. It's used as animal bedding, sometimes as a mulch on plants, and maybe other uses that I don't remember. The sugar cane mills used to burn it for heat to process the cane juice.

The residue from sugar beets is used as a feed.

Molasses is the stuff left over after the cane juice is processed for sugar.

Mike

ray hampton
12-23-2013, 7:15 PM
Molasses is the stuff left over after the cane juice is processed for sugar.

Mike

You must be talking big scale factories , local farmers raise cane to made sorghum when I was a youngster

Steve Rozmiarek
12-23-2013, 8:27 PM
Well, I know you are raising beets... It sounds like you are raising cane! :D

jtk

LOL! Didn't think I was that kind of guy!


Ray, I bet it was a different cane, there are several varieties, the stuff that makes feed and sugar cane are not the same.

ray hampton
12-23-2013, 9:44 PM
LOL! Didn't think I was that kind of guy!


Ray, I bet it was a different cane, there are several varieties, the stuff that makes feed and sugar cane are not the same.

You are so right , one type of cane are use as a back in chairs , another cane are a aid for walking while a third one are use for fishing, sugar cane were use to made sorghum, when cane are use for feed , was it made into silage ?

Steve Rozmiarek
12-24-2013, 12:36 AM
It can be turned into sillage for sure. It yields very similar to corn tonnage, and I hear it is just as good quality. We use a couple of the hybrids for hay. Cane gets crossed with several other plants to make super forage too.

I like the walking aid cane, lol!

Mike Henderson
12-25-2013, 6:36 PM
You must be talking big scale factories , local farmers raised cane to make sorghum when I was a youngster

You must be thinking about sweet sorghum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sorghum) which is completely unrelated to sugar cane. Molasses is made from the residue of sugar cane juice - after it has been processed for sugar. Actually, there are a few other plants that will yield molasses but the majority is made from sugar cane juice.

And, yes, a sugar refinery is pretty big - it has some very large equipment in it. It only operates part of the year (when I was a kid) during the sugar cane harvesting time, but during that time, it processes a lot of sugar cane.

Mike