Can You Eat Sugar Cane?

Can you eat sugar cane?

By Dr Anny Manrich (PhD)

Page last updated: 02/04/2023 | Next review date: 02/04/2025

Author bio

Dr Anny March PhD is a food Engineer with expertise in Food Technology, Natural Polymers, Edible Films, Enzymes, and Nanotechnology. Dr Anny Manrich’s Highlights: Research and Technology at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation PhD in Chemical Engineering with a focus on Biochemistry at the Federal University of…

Dr Anny Manrich (PhD)

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In this article, we will answer the question “Can you eat sugar cane?” and discuss its health benefits?

Yes, you can eat sugar cane. Sugarcane is chewed and the juice consumed. This is also extremely popular in India. If you are in a rural area with sugarcane fields, you can ask the farmer for a cane or two and they will gladly give them to you.

However, do not drink water for at least 1-2 hours after chewing the sugarcane. The cane fibers are extremely sharp, and they would have cut your tongue and mouth inside. They will get worse if you drink water.

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is a giant grass, belonging to the Poaceae family, and is considered as a crop of economic importance. It is mainly cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. India stands second among all sugarcane growing countries next to Brazil, contributing nearly 20.4% area and 18.6% production (1).

Cane’s sweetness is arguably the most delectable I’ve ever tasted. To absorb the essence, the cane must be sprayed with a machine or chewed. It’s a plant with thick skin on the exterior and an inside sponge-like structure. As a result, just the liquid can be swallowed.

This cultivated grass is commonly grown on a commercial scale, but it may also be grown in your own backyard. Enjoy beautiful, attractive grass, a natural screen, and privacy border, as well as the sweet juice and fiber that may be harvested in the fall.

Sugar has a terrible reputation these days, and there is surely such a thing as too much sugar. The regular and high consumption of white sugar results in many health-related problems including dental, stomach problems, diabetes, obesity, etc (2). Growing your own sugarcane, on the other hand, is a great way to get more natural, unprocessed sugar to supplement a healthy diet.

A refined sugar consists of sucrose only and undergoes huge nutritive losses due to multiple chemical processing, while sugarcane juice consists of minerals and vitamins along with glucose, fructose, and sucrose (2).

Syrup and chewing canes are the two forms of sugarcane that are most beneficial in home gardens. Because sugarcane does not crystallize quickly, it can be processed to make syrup.

Sugarcane contains 12-15% of sugar and can increase the risk of developing dental caries (3). Sugarcane fiber is now being researched to see if it can help people maintain a healthy weight, lose weight, and reduce their chance of acquiring diabetes. However, this fiber must be reduced to micrometer-sized and nanometer-sized particles to produce a product in the form of a pulver (4).

Fiber has been shown to counteract the negative health consequences of sugar, including delaying the rise in blood glucose that occurs after eating sugar. However, by chewing sugarcane stalks, the fibers are not consumed, since they compose the bagasse. Pulverized sugarcane bagasse, of small particles, from few nanometers to hundreds micrometers can be incorporated into the diet (4). Sugarcane has other health benefits, such as providing more nutrients than processed sugar.

Plant polyphenols, antioxidants, protein, manganese, iron, calcium, potassium, and B vitamins can all be found in unprocessed sugarcane. Sugarcane has been shown to help with jaundice, cholesterol and blood sugar level, and foul breath (1).

Sugarcane: How to Use It You must harvest and savor sugarcane canes from your garden in order to reap the benefits of sugarcane. It’s simple to do; just cut the cane back at the base and peel off the outer coating.

Sugar, and other nutrients can be found inside, which are edible. You can chew on the interior of the cane or press it to make sugarcane juice, which you can add to anything. To make food skewers, drink stirrers, and sweeteners, chop the cane into sticks.

You may even manufacture rum by fermenting the sugar cane. Sugar should always be limited in the diet, but substituting natural cane from your own yard for processed sugar is a fantastic alternative.

Is Eating Sugarcane Good for Your Health?

Sugarcane is a tropical grass grown all over the world for the production of refined sugar, sugarcane juice, and therapeutic remedies for a variety of ailments. Sugarcane is used to make a variety of sugar products, including:

White sugar that has been refined
Brown sugar is a type of sugar that is used
Molasses
Jaggery

Sugarcane juice aside from the plant stalks itself, is one of the purest forms of sugarcane, retaining the largest quantity of the plant’s inherent vitamins and minerals.

Sugarcane has been utilized as a frequent remedy for numerous ailments in the Ayurveda and Unani systems of medicine for millennia in India and other parts of Southeast Asia. Natural sugarcane and its derivatives have been used to cure a variety of ailments, including (1):

Inflammation
Jaundice is a type of jaundice that occurs (liver problems that result in skin and whites of eyes turning yellow)
Problems with the urinary tract

Sugarcane and sugar beet plants are both used to make refined white sugar, albeit they have slightly different qualities and are farmed in various parts of the world. To draw firm conclusions on the advantages of natural sugarcane, more research is required.