The Iron Kettles of Sugar
Molten Memories: The Iron Trains of Sugar In 18th-century Barbados, cane sugar was made in cast-iron syrup kettles, a technique later adopted in the American South. Sugarcane was crushed using wind and animal-powered mills. The extracted juice was warmed, clarified, and vaporized in a series of cast-iron pots of reducing size to produce crystallized sugar. The Rise of Barbados Sugar Wealth. Sugarcane cultivation started in Barbados in the early 1640s, when Dutch merchants introduced sugar cane harvesting. By the mid-17th century, Barbados had actually become one of the wealthiest colonies in the British Empire, earning the nickname "Little England." But all was not sweetness in the land of Sugar as we discover next: The Boiling Process: A Grueling Task Making sugar in the days of colonial slavery was an unforgiving procedure. After harvesting and squashing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in massive cast iron kettles till it turned into sugar. These pots, typically arr...