SC - Cane Honey??

[Decker, Terry D.]

>>Could the reference to "cane honey" be the incomplete curing of a 
>>sugar loaf?  Sugar loaves sometimes were incompletely cured, leaving a 
>>liquid residue in the middle.  
>
>Perhaps I just need to go look up how sugar was/is made, but what is
>this curing of the sugar loaf. Isn't this just the evaporation of the
>water left in the sugar? If so, wouldn't this liquid then be the same
>as solution of sugar and water? If so, I would expect the medieval cook
>to make his own from sugar and water rather than hunt around for an
>incompletely cured sugar loaf, even if he had several.
>
>Stefan li Rous

Sugar is extracted from cane, by pounding the cane and boiling it in
water until it formed a heavy syrup.  If I remember the process
correctly, the syrup was then poured into a cloth form.  Water could
wick away and evaporate and the sugar would crystallize inside of the
form.  Once the sugar loaf cured (crystallized and hardened), the form
could be pulled off like a sock.

The process obviously depends on humidity and temperature being right
for the process.  If the surface cured quickly and formed a rind, it
might trap moisture in the middle of the loaf.  It might be that sugar
makers would try for this effect, since sugar was sold by weight and
additional water means additional profit.

In any case, the liquid residue would be simple syrup and could easily
be duplicated by dissolving sugar in boiling water and cooking down the
solution.  Reduced to the appropriate consistency it might just be "cane
honey."

Bear 
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================