Tag: Cane juice

Over 70% of the world's sugar is produced from sugarcane, and surprisingly, the fibrous stalks are the very part people chew on for a sweet treat. While the industrial process extracts the juice to make sugar, many cultures enjoy the raw stems of sugarcane for their natural, refreshing taste.

According to the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, a single stalk of sugarcane can contain approximately 30 teaspoons of sugar, but this is highly concentrated and not how the plant is typically consumed. A piece of sugarcane, when chewed or juiced, delivers a significantly different amount of sugar, combined with water, fiber, and other nutrients.

While sugarcane stalks are rich in sucrose, a mature stalk is composed of 63–73% water and only 12–16% soluble sugars. The answer to "is sugarcane full of sugar?" depends on whether you are referring to the whole plant, its juice, or the highly processed table sugar derived from it, as they have vastly different nutritional profiles. This distinction is critical for understanding its place in a healthy diet.