Name ____________________

Modern Marvels – Sugar

1. In the United States we eat, on the average, ___________pounds of sugar in a year.

2. In contrast, Australians eat ________pounds of sugar in a year.

3. At least _______________________ tons of sugar are produced each year.

4. Sugar cane is a ____________________ grass.

5. New cane plants grow from _____________________ of an adult plant, instead of seeds.

6. Like potatoes, the part of the stalk the new plant grows from is called an ____________.

7. While most sugar can grows and is harvested in a year, a new hybrid in Hawaii takes _________ years
to grow, reaching _____________ feet in height.

8. The sugar cane is burned in the field to remove _________________________ and

_______________________.

9. One acre yields ________________ tons of stalks.

10. Ten pounds of stalks yield _____ - _______ pounds of raw sugar.

11. The HC&S Sugar Cane Company began in _____________ and produce ____________ tons of sugar
per year.

12. In the sugar process, how many times is the liquid mix boiled? __________

13. Molasses, a by-product of sugar production, can be used for ______________________,

_______________________, and _______________________________.

14. A second source for producing sugar, what vegetable is grown in California sugar production?
________________________________

15. Approximately ___________ of the global production of sugar comes from sugar beets?

16. What is the length of the growing season for sugar beets? _________________

17. How soon after harvest must the sugar beets be processed? __________________

18. If the sugar beets are not processed, what will they continue to eat up? __________________

19. Each beet weighs _______________ pounds.

20. The Spreckles Sugar Factory processes _____________________ tons of beets, producing
__________________ million pounds of sugar each year.

21. The Spreckles Factory has created a process that improves the sugar yield of the molasses by
________________ percent.
22. Before sugar was used as a sweetener, natural products ____________ and ____________ were
used as everyday sweeteners.

23. Egyptians added _________________ to sugar cane juice to help remove impurities.

24. In the 1600’s _____________ (alcoholic drink) was discovered by accident in Barbados. This
eventually became known as _________________.

25. The Sugar Triangle ran between ____________, ______________, and __________________.

26. _______________ and _______________ played an important role in the _________________

____________________ War.

27. ________________ eventually left the American colonies alone so they could fight over sugar at
home.

28. In 1811, _______________________, ordered 40 sugar factories built in France.

29. In 1843, a process was invented to evaporate more ________________ resulting in a drier and purer
crystal.

30. List five applications for sugar in the food industry

a. b.

b. d.

e.

31. To create white sugar, _______________________ is spun out of raw sugar.

32. ____________________________ is white sugar that has been ground into fine powder.

33. Sugar is seeing an increase of usage in the cosmetics industry in products such as
___________________ and ________________________.

34. Describe the process for making rum – add ____________ to molasses and water, distill to 80 proof.

35. The better the __________________, the better the rum.

36. Sugar is facing pressure from __________________________________, which is made from corn
grain.

37. ________________ has reduced its dependence on foreign oil by using sugar to make ethanol.

38. Brazil produces ________ percent of the world’s ethanol, which is ________ times US production.

39. ___________________ is the shredded cane stalk that is burned in order to produce steam and
electricity.