Gardening – Sweet sticks

Sugar gets a bad rap, and deservedly so for the highly processed white sugar (brown sugar is only marginally better) that forms such a big part of the modern diet. However, raw sugarcane juice has many health benefits and a lower glycaemic index than refined sugar, ideal for restoring energy, but also for rehydration being packed with electrolytes. It is rich in antioxidants and minerals that support liver health, combat oxidative stress and increase natural immunity.

Many people are surprised that sugarcane grows easily in our climate, associated as it is with more tropical regions such as Northern Queensland, Fiji, the Caribbean and Brazil. While slower growing here than in those warmer regions, it still grows fast enough to be a useful addition to the home orchard or an invaluable component of a food forest.

Sugarcane will grow in a range of soils if it has sufficient water and nutrients over the main summer growing season. It prefers full sun, but will cope with a little shade and can take several light frosts without dying back. It’s ideal growing on the sunny side of a fence or building where it will love the extra heat and be less prone to falling over (called ‘lodging’), as well as forming an attractive and effective windbreak.

If grown as an ornamental, stripping off the older, lower leaves will produce an attractive bamboo style effect with the stems colouring up as they exposed to the sun. This also keeps them from looking messy, and the leaves make nutritious mulch around fruit trees or added to the compost heap.

When growing for juice, I remove the lower leaves several weeks before harvest as it produces a cleaner stem for juicing and it’s easier to do while the stems are standing. In the tropics, they typically fire the plantation to remove the foliage and drive out rats, toads and snakes, something we don’t have a problem with, thankfully!

Stems can be harvested each year, and a clump can remain productive for several years from planting.

The harvest season in the tropics is their dry season, but here, of course, winter is our wettest season, so I’ve found the best time to harvest sugarcane is late autumn to early winter, when growth is slowing and sugar content is at its peak.

I’m just about to start my annual sugarcane harvest and juicing to distill into rum. Natural yeasts are found in abundance on the stems, so the juice rapidly ferments unless preserved with the addition of lime or lemon juice, which makes a delicious drink! Kids love chewing on pieces of the stem, too, which is surprisingly good for their teeth, being very fibrous.

Younger shoots, called ratoons, are grown from pieces of cane for next season’s planting stock and are often available on online marketplaces. Try growing some, you’ll love this sweet crop.