Sugar Cane Juice
Sugar cane juice is the juice pressed from fresh cane, with nothing added: green, grassy and only lightly sweet, at roughly a fifth sugar against half for a 1:1 simple syrup. The IBA Planter's Punch uses 30ml of it as its only sweetener. It starts to ferment within hours of pressing, so use it that day or buy it frozen.
Quick Facts
Refrigerated and used the day it is pressed, or frozen that day. It oxidises quickly once cut from the plant, turning grey and losing the green note that is the whole reason for using it.
None of the 14 listed allergens.
About Sugar Cane Juice
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Faintly sweet and distinctly green, tasting of the plant rather than of sugar, with a mineral, almost savoury edge underneath.
A juice, at a fraction of a syrup's sugar
Sugar cane juice is what runs out when fresh cane is crushed. Mature cane juice is roughly a fifth dissolved sugar; a 1:1 simple syrup is half sugar by weight, and a 2:1 rich syrup about two thirds. Swap in syrup at the same volume and the result is far sweeter than written.
The juice also tastes of the plant, green and grassy with a light sweetness, which no syrup carries.
Sugar cane juice against the house syrups
Sugar, by weight
- Sugar cane juice
- Roughly a fifth
- Simple syrup, 1:1
- Half
- Rich syrup, 2:1
- About two thirds
Taste
- Sugar cane juice
- Green, grassy, lightly sweet
- Simple syrup, 1:1
- Plain sweetness
- Rich syrup, 2:1
- Plain, heavier sweetness
Keeps
- Sugar cane juice
- The day it is pressed, or frozen that day
- Simple syrup, 1:1
- Two weeks refrigerated
- Rich syrup, 2:1
- One month refrigerated
In place of 30ml of cane juice
- Sugar cane juice
- As written
- Simple syrup, 1:1
- About 10ml, plus 20ml of water
- Rich syrup, 2:1
- About 7.5ml, plus water to 30ml
| Sugar cane juice | Simple syrup, 1:1 | Rich syrup, 2:1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar, by weight | Roughly a fifth | Half | About two thirds |
| Taste | Green, grassy, lightly sweet | Plain sweetness | Plain, heavier sweetness |
| Keeps | The day it is pressed, or frozen that day | Two weeks refrigerated | One month refrigerated |
| In place of 30ml of cane juice | As written | About 10ml, plus 20ml of water | About 7.5ml, plus water to 30ml |
It is the only sweetener in the Planter's Punch
The IBA builds it from three things: Jamaican rum at 45ml, lime juice at 15ml, and sugar cane juice at 30ml. The cane juice sweetens and lengthens the drink in one pour, which a syrup at that measure could not do without making it far too sweet.
At 30ml it also brings more of its green character to the glass than a smaller pour would, which is the reason to seek it out rather than reach for syrup.
It starts to ferment within hours
Fresh juice ferments and darkens soon after pressing, so where it is sold as a street drink, as caldo de cana or garapa in Brazil, it is pressed to order. In Britain, frozen pouches are the practical form: thaw a pouch in the fridge and finish it within the day. Tinned juice is heat-treated and tastes cooked.
Cachaça and rhum agricole start here
Cane juice is also a starting point for spirits. Fermented and then distilled, it becomes cachaça in Brazil and rhum agricole in the French Caribbean.
Using Sugar Cane Juice
Usage
30ml in the Planter's Punch, against 45ml of Jamaican rum and 15ml of lime, as the IBA specifies. It sweetens and lengthens at once. Frozen juice thawed in the fridge works; tinned juice tastes cooked.
Pro Tip
With no cane juice to hand, about 10ml of 1:1 simple syrup topped up with 20ml of water carries roughly the sugar of 30ml of juice. The Planter's Punch keeps its balance; the grassy note is what goes missing.
Top Tips
- Use it the day it is pressed, or freeze it that day.
- Thaw frozen juice in the fridge and use it the same day.
- Do not pour syrup in its place measure for measure; a 1:1 syrup carries more than twice the sugar.
- Shake the pouch or bottle before pouring; the juice settles.