Molasses Making Part 2

On Saturday we completed the second part or Molasses making trip. If you remember we harvested the cane on Thursday and had it ready to be juiced and boiled.

 

The canes were pushed through the press resulting in bright green cane juice that was collected and prepared to be boiled. 

The cane juice was collected and strained through out the process to remove any debris.

This picture is of the crushed cane ready to be composted. 

Cecil and Mike were supervising the operation, teaching us the many interesting techniques that go into creating the delicious finished product.  

Here a Mountain Alliance student is pouring the cane juice through a filter into a barrel, that emptied into the larger boiler.

 

In this picture you can see the wood fire that provided heat for the boil and also everyone gathered near by. 

Skimming was a task that was done almost continuously to remove the scum that would collect at the top of the boil.

 

During the down time Cecil, Alex, Andy and Ethan entertained us with some great music. We left before the boil was completely finished so we don't have any pictures of the finished product, we did taste it a few days later and it was delicious.