Sugarcane Juice-Ganne ka Ras

Bullock Carts with Sugarcane

All along the highways, byways and village roads, convoys of bullock carts wind their slow way to the factories, overflowing with freshly harvested sugar cane.It is a familiar sight near Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara,the Golden Triangle in the southern part of Maharashtra, so named because of its rich soil and plentiful supply of water.Even closer by to Pune, at Uruli Kanchan and other sugarcane growing areas it is a common sight. Traffic crawls to a halt quite tolerantly as the carts trundle along.There is a festive feel to this journey because nobody returns empty handed .Ribbons and bows are bought for the children and a new sari for women in the family. At least there is something to celebrate this season, as the last harvest was washed out in Maharashtra due to the heavy rains and flooding, and at the co operative factories, farmers were not receiving even the SMP ( statutory minimum price) for their cane, as stipulated by the government.

Cane prices are still manipulated by the big guns of the sugar industry who, like the oil barons in North America are known to have political connections and form a powerful lobby.Though many factories are ostensibly co-operatives they do not always function cooperatively. Farmers have had to pay 'deposits' or 'share money', under several pretexts. This money has accumulated to form massive funds, the use of which has not been made clear,and which has not been repaid nor refunded to them.There has been talk of reforming the societies but any restructuring of the cooperative schemes, under which these farmers operate, must take these funds into account.

Meanwhile the common man takes pleasure in the sight of those carts as it means fresh cane juice and cane to chew on. How often have we fantasized about pulling out one long stem of sugarcane while passing , to risk losing our front teeth while stripping off the outer skin of the cane to get to the juice beneath.

Cleaning cane

A small amount does find its way to the sugar cane crushers who find a shady spot to set up business and churn out the golden liquid.

Crushing sugarcane for juice

Teenagers whirl around holding the rotating lever with manic energy, looking forward to the haul they will make from travellers when the sun is high.

Wooden crushers

While many of the crushers are now made of metal gears and pulleys, the old style wooden ones look a lot cleaner. Sometimes a bit of pineapple and lime is squeezed along with the cane and provides the piquant taste to the suprisingly light and not too sweet sugarcane juice.

This Is the Real Thing

You bet!

Comments

[Jagan Mohan]

aw. Reminds me. Just to add, In the south, we have a darker variety of the sugarcane which is more fleshy, juicy with a softer purplish bark.

This variety is grown primarily to cater to the festival seasons of Pongal (Baisakhi) and Ayudapuja or Puja of Instruments(Lakshmi Puja) when it is customary to have a bunch of these around the house, in the Puja room and almost anywhere else it can be tied to... Pongal is no pongal with these sugarcanes.

Its low sugar content makes it inviable for large scale round the year cultivation.

Ref: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/62092/

[Steffles]

I love fresh sugar cane too. Sometimes I like it with a squeeze of lemon for a different taste. Its refreshing to know that there is still the old style of making sugar cane juice - thanks for sharing these pictures with us!

[deccanheffalump]

Thanks for that information about the darker variety of sugarcane , Jagan,and , yes , the stack is always apparent during any puja in the South.

Steffles I didn't know you could get sugarcane juice in Singapore!Do you go into the countryside or is it available in the city?

[gawker]

Not sure if you are from Pune or not, but during my stint in S.P College there used to be a very famous sugarcane juice joint, the name of which I have forgotten now. They used to serve these huge glasses of juice, which was almost intoxicating due to it's sugar rush.

[deccanheffalump]

Hi gawker,
Is it the one on Tilak Road, Law College Road or Agricultural College? The last has shut down sadly. They always added a bit of ginger to the sugarcane while crushing it and it was outstanding!

[gawker]

I've been to the one on Tilak Road (near SP College), but now that you mention it, I remember the one opposite agricultural college as well. They had a nice yard to sit in and drink the stuff. Sorry to hear that shut down. It used to be a favorite haunt of mine.