Sugar Cane Syrup

We’re still on Virgin Gorda, with “the New Regular:” a curfew from 8 PM to 5 AM, distancing & mandatory masks.

I’m still re-re-designing and sifting my ghut-side vegetable garden, but we’ve had over 2 inches of rain the last two days. Everything is mud.

So I need to find other projects, right?

A friend gave me a grocery sack of fresh sugar cane, all cleaned & cut into 5 to 6 inch pieces. This was my first time to chew on real sugar cane, but there was too much for 2 of us to eat fresh!

So: I cut it lengthwise & crosswise into smaller pieces, used the blender to chop it into about 5 quarts of fluffy fiber, covered it in water & boiled in a 6 quart pot. Then, I strained it with a colander & cheesecloth, to end up with about 2 quarts of what looked & tasted like water. Boiled this down until it thickened – & I thought it might boil away – to make two 4 oz jars of cane syrup.

(Tastes like good molasses.)