Using a meat mincer to extract the juice from Sugar Cane.

I harvested my first sugar cane today, only one stalk that was a bit under 6 foot long, I used a pair of garden shears to cut the base and will hope that it will grow another Ratoon from there.

A friend and I then tried to crush the cane and extract the juice from the cane. We did not have any specialised equipment and tried using a meat mincer as that was about all we could find that would do. A meat mincer, is not ideal to use as the fibre in the cane very quickly blocked the mincer.

In about 15 minutes, the two of us, with a lot of sweating,  managed to extract about 200 ml of juice, from about 20 cm of cane. We then filtered it and then put in the fridge. We tasted the Cane Juice, and it was very sweet, and quite a refreshing drink.

Coffee with Sugar Cane Juice

I have just made a coffee and added some Cane Juice into the coffee instead of Sugar, or Honey - although I usually do not add any sweeteners to my coffee. I can notice the sweetness in my coffee.

I will not be able to crush the rest of the cane tomorrow, and since the sugar content drops straight away, I will cut the cane into billets and give them to a neighbour who wants to plant them. I will cut them up tomorrow morning when she is here with her 4 year old son, as he is the one that is keen on planting the Sugarcane, I will probably help them plant the cane in their yard tomorrow morning.