82 SUGAR 



CHAPTER XXI 



ROUND AND ABOUT A SUGAR REFINERY 



I WANT you clearly to understand the difference between 

 factory-made sugar and refinery-made sugar. 



Generally speaking, cane-sugar factories — which we 

 have hitherto spoken of under their more usual name 

 of " mills " — and beet-sugar factories both produce 

 what is known as raw sugar. This product is not 

 impure in the sense that it has been adulterated or 

 contains dirty or harmful ingredients, but in that it 

 retains certain chemical constituents of the juice 

 which are not sugar, as, for instance, colouring matter. 

 Raw sugar goes (a) to brewers, and manufacturers 

 of such commodities as confectionery and condensed 

 milk, and (b) to refiners. But, in addition to their 

 output of raw sugar, many factories make sugar that 

 is very nearly akin to the refined article ; for instance, 

 Demerara crystals come so nearly up to the chemical 

 standpoint of purity, that to all intents and purposes 

 they are refined sugar. Again, best quality factory- 

 made Muscovado takes high rank among pure sugars. 

 And in this matter of producing an article that can be 

 sold directly for grocery purposes, cane factories have 

 a decided advantage over beet factories, for, as I have 

 already told you, the foreign ingredients in cane-sugar are 

 agreeable to the nose and palate, whereas those in beet- 

 sugar are productive of a disagreeable taste and smell. 



But in order to pass the chemical test of purity, all 

 sugar, no matter whether its origin be the cane or beet, 

 must be refined. This most searching process of puri- 

 fication is capable of converting good quality raw sugar 

 into an article that is absolutely pure sugar to the 



