Monday, November 26, 2007

Sugar Cane



This afternoon we tried some sugar cane.

The sugar cane cost a couple of dollars for one small stalk about 6 inches long. The instructions said to cut off the outer stalk so I got out the cutting board and knife and tried cutting. It was like cutting a small tree. I started to think I was going to need to go and get my husband's hand saw, but then I thought of poking the tip of the knife between the outer and inner layers and kind of peel back the hard outer layer. It worked!

You are supposed to cut off a part of the inside of the stalk and chew on it until the sweet juice is all out of the piece (which takes about 3 chews). Then you are left with what resembles pieces of shredded wood in your mouth, which you spit out.

There was a slight fruity, sweet odor when we sniffed the sugar cane. It tasted like it smelled - sweet but a bit fruity. It wasn't overpoweringly sweet like a spoonful of sugar. There was another hint of flavor that reminded me of molasses.

Ds thought it tasted yummy "best stuff in the world", dd said "it's delicious!" and kept wanting more. After about 5 bits to chew - ds's comment was "it makes me feel a little sick". Don't know where that came from b/c I think you could probably chew on the cane for 1/2 a day without getting enough sweetness to make you feel sickly.

2 comments:

Meredith said...

My son loves going to the Asian market with me. One day I let him take photos, and he couldn't quit shooting the 6-foot-tall sugarcanes.

What a neat idea for a blog!

Edi said...

Thank you.

My kids love spying all the interesting things at the market - the stranger it seems, the better.

My dh and I once visited an Asian market in Kansas City (kids were not w/us at the time) - but they would have loved it. There were live turtles or lobsters crawling around on the floor that you could purchase.