The Sugar Cane Barrel

Jun 12, 2019, 8:57 PM

In the 1920's, 1930's and until I left my home town for the Univ. of Florida, the sugar cane barrel was a fixture at the entrance of every grocery store during the fall. In the downtown area was a lot with several large pecan trees. Under one of the pecan trees were several old benches that had been there for years and they had the appearance of age. This was a favorite spot for some of the retired and unemployed men to gather and pass the time of day

Most farms in the area had a one to two acre cane patch and when the cane was ready for harvest, out came the barrels at he stores and they were always well stocked. Money was scarce but the men could always find a dime to purchase a stalk of cane. A dime was big money to some of those men so selecting a stalk of cane was akin to purchasing a new horse collar. Of course they wanted a long stalk with a degree of maturity that expended far up the stalk. The greater distance between nodes meant more good chewing.

Every man had a Barlow knife and he didn't leave home until that knife was as sharp as a razor. The sweetest part of the cane was always down at the bottom of the stalk and that is where it all began. The sharp knife was placed near one of the nodes and the stalk was slowly turned until the section was cut off. The next step was to remove the outer portion. Depending on how large a "chew" the men wanted, it was now cut into about 3/4" to 1" plugs and the plug split into four pieces. Now it was time to toss it in the mouth and chew until all the cane juice was extracted. When there was no more juice, the remained was spit out, all men contributing to the discarded pile.

This process was repeated until all edible portions of the stalk had been "chewed". This was a daily ritual that did not end until the cane was no longer available. After a few days the pile of chewed portions was becoming larger and larger. The aroma from that pile of chewings was an invitation to yellow jackets and they descended on that pile as if it was one of my PUD cakes. I don't know if any of the men were stung by the yellow jackets but if they were, it didn't interfere with their daily ritual. When there was no more cane available, some of us younger kids would go by where the men had been chewing cane and were amazed at the size of that "chewings" pile.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

The Sugar Cane Barrel

Re: The Sugar Cane Barrel

Re: The Sugar Cane Barrel

Being born in Charleston . . . but raised in Sumter . . .

Re: The Sugar Cane Barrel

Sugar cane...

TigerBoard POTD