Sugarcane



What a beautiful, sweet plant! A friend had a few red sugar canes in his backyard. They were about 7-8 feet tall with reddish purple stem and a bunch of green leaves on top. They were really beautiful. I knew sugarcane was commercially grown to make sugar, but I did not realize that it was quite ornamental. I also did not know it would grow in San Diego. To me, sugarcane was also associated with tropical plantations in Hawaii, and Caribbean countries.

My friend graciously gave me a few short stems with 2-3 nodes to me in May. I planted the stems horizontally, barely covered with soil. They all sprouted and have grown vigorously. One of the stem is now a clump of 7-8 feet canes. The stem was covered with leave sheath. I peeled the lower leaves to expose the beautiful purple stem.

I cut a stem from the ground in October to see if it is ready for epicureans’ enjoyment. Well, it turned out it is a lot of work to get to the sweet pith. First, I had to peel off the tough purple skin with a sharp knife. Then, I had to cut the long stem to more manageable length. The ivory- color pith was as expected quite sweet. However, it was still quite tough. I could definitely feel the strain on my jaw and teethwhen I chew on the cane to extract the sweet juice. After finishing one short segment (about 3-inch long), I decided it was more important to preserve my teeth and jaw which protested vehemently against chewing the tough cane than to work on the cane. I put the remaining segments to tomato soup. I think I will keep the sugarcane as an ornamental plant. But if you want to test the strength of teeth, you are welcome to come and get the sugarcane (after you sign a liability waiver of any potential injuries).

Comments

Joe said…
That's so cool...I've been wanting to grow sugarcane for some time, but I've never found a plant. Yours looks great!
9:09 AM
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