Sugar can be made from many different types of sugarcane, but there are a few basic types that are most common.

Chewing canes – These are sugarcane varieties that have a soft, fibrous center which is good for chewing. The fibers tend to stick together as you chew so that spitting it out once the sugar is depleted is easier. Chewing cane varieties are good for making juice or syrup from their sap, but not for crystallization.

Syrup canes – We have a variety of sugar types that don’t crystallize easily but are good for making sugar syrup. They are used commercially but also in the home garden.

Cristal canes – Crystal canes are largely commercial varieties with high concentrations of sucrose used to make crystallized table sugar.

About ICUMSA

The International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA) was formed to bring together the efforts of National Committees for Sugar Analysis in more than thirty member countries worldwide. The Commission’s work is carried out under various Subject headings, each headed by a Referee.

Methods are recommended for tentative approval by ICUMSA in the first instance. Upon meeting all of the Commission’s requirements, methods are accorded official status. Methods which are demonstrably useful and have found an established application, or which do not lend themselves to collaborative testing are given an Accepted status.

An ICUMSA rating is an international unit for expressing the purity of the sugar in solution, and is directly related to the colour of the sugar. Be aware that there are different types of ICUMSA units. For Brazilian sugar, the lower the ICUMSA figure the whiter the sugar