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Capn Jimbo's Rum Project Forum
Rum Appreciation by and for the Compleat Idiot
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Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 1363
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
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 Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:20 am Post subject: Cane is able... part two |
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Types of cane used...
This might be a good place to introduce the types of cane approved for use the narrowly defined AOC cane juice rums made in Martinique under copious and smothering French regulation.
Call them rums by regulation.
Kinds of Cane
| Quote: | | According to Mr. Grégory Vernant, only 12 kinds of sugar cane are used to make A.O.C. Martinique rhum agricole: Cristalline (a noble cane, Oficinarum) and the hybrid canes, B51.129, B59.94, B63.118, B64.277 (red cane), B69.566 (blue cane), B73.419, B75.368, B76.56, B80.08, R570 (Réunion) and B82.0333 (a new cane). |
So - there are 12 kinds of cane used to make cane juice rum in this French protectorate - an original (noble) cane and a number of hybrids. Analyzing the designations is interesting. For example: B69.566
B - means the cane is from Barbados, the home of rum,
69 - created in 1969, and
566 - after 566 attempts (to hybridize).
Oh, the "R"? From the island of Reunion. Please note that almost all the cane used in Martinique is actually from Barbados. The real background is that cane was introduced into the Carribean by Columbus - today the hybrids are really a combinations of three basic varieties:
1. "Wild" Saccharum Robustum from New Guinea,
2. "Rustic" Saccharum Spontaneum, more resistant to hurricanes with its deep running roots, and...
3. "Noble" Saccharum Officinarum, rich in sugar.
Credit to (link). These three have been hybridized with the objective of long life, resistance to hurricanes and high sugar content. The notion of terroir is little more than someone's wet dream.
The Harvest
Cane is harvested either by hand or by machine. Hand harvested cane (think Haiti) is first burned (to eliminate rodents, snakes and leaves: to facilitate cutting). Hand cutting is also necessary on steep terrain, or on smaller fields. It is the preferred method in Haiti. It is worth noting that timing is very important, as the objective is to maximize sugar content, while maintaining certain pH levels of acidity.
Processing
Machine cut cane arrives at the distillery already cleaned and cut into pieces. Hand cut cane must be cut into smaller pieces and cleaned before crushing. Cane may also be "defibered" (shredded, to free the juices) before crushing. The cane is then rushed to produce fresh cane juice, leaving behind "bagasse" (crushed pieces of cane) which are used as fuel for a variety of purposes.
The fresh cane juice is filtered and then proceeds to either be fermented (for cane juice rums), or for further processing into sugar and byproduct molasses (for molasses based rums).
Summary
It's interesting to note that almost all the cane used in Martinique and Barbados emanate from Barbados, the home of rum. Unlike grapes for wine which differ greatly based on soil and climate, the cane is grown and selected primarily for its sugar content (sugar = alcohol = profit).
The volcanic soil in Martinique limits the selection of cane species to those which will produce desired sugar content in these somewhat harsh soils.
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