10 facts on
SUGARCANE
by Philip McIntosh
Also known as C 12 H 22 O 11 , refined sugar comes from sugarcane and a few other places .
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Sugarcane has been around for about as long as any domesticated plant , arising in New Guinea sometime between 4,000 and 8,000 BCE and separately in China from around 5,500 BCE .
Like many domesticated plants , the species we now know as Saccharum officinarum ( L .) is really a hybrid selected by humans over the centuries .
The genus Saccharum is in the grass family Poaceae . Sugarcane and its relatives are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical areas .
The sweet sap of sugarcane stalks contains significant concentrations of sucrose , a disaccharide consisting of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule linked together .
Brazil is a perennial top producer of sugarcane . In the U . S ., Florida produces more sugarcane than any other state .
Many fruits and vegetables contain sucrose , but besides sugarcane , the only other economical source of sucrose is the sugar beet .
Breeding of new and improved varieties is an active area of research . Many cultivars are available , often with names such as Ho 07-613 or L 11-183 .
Being composed of the simple sugars glucose and fructose , sugar is pure carbohydrate . One 2.3-gram sugar cube contains zero percent of any of the recommended daily requirements . A larger sugar cube might contain one percent of the daily requirement of carbohydrates .
Honey , white sugar , brown sugar , and maple syrup all contain sucrose in varying amounts and have similar nutritional values .
Sugarcane is also used in the manufacture of molasses and rum , as an animal feed , for fiber , and a fuel called bagasse .
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