Got sugarcane? Here's how to eat it.

One summer day in 1961, my mother gave me a list of the addresses of the Governors of every state. She suggested that as a summer vacation project, I write a letter to each of them and ask them to send me an example of a product that was grown or produced in their state. What their state was best known for. I remember rolling my eyes. My soul recoiled in horror. 

If I could have leapt forward in time, gained access to the wonders of the computer age, and been able to mass produce such a letter, I would probably have done so and may have cashed in as all sorts of things began arriving at our house. As it was, at that time in my life, all I had was a ruled tablet and a number 2 Ticonderoga. I ranked writing a letter as one of the most odious tasks I could imagine. And during my summer vacation besides! One was bad enough but to write 50 of them would have been unimaginable. (Alaska and Hawaii had become states in 1959) To placate the parental powers though, I did write several. 

I don't now remember all to whom I wrote. I think I managed about five. Today, I remember receiving something back from only two. The Governor of Louisiana (some underling I'm sure) sent me rice still on the stalk and a similarly placed gofer in Hawaii sent me a six inch long piece of sugar cane.  It's true that on the days I received these two items, I might have grudgingly admitted that Mom's lame suggestion made a little sense after all. Still, upon later reflection, when I balanced the pain I had endured in composing the letters with the real value of the product I received, I did not feel that the deal was worth it. I was not motivated to write any further letters. (I think I also wrote to a western state hoping to get an genuine Indian arrowhead, but that never worked out.)

Approximately fifty five years later however, when I was buying vegetable spring rolls this morning at the Silver Bell Asian Market, and noticed frozen sugar cane stalks in the next freezer, I flashed back to the moment when I opened the little brown box from Hawaii. That hunk of cane I found inside had been as hard as a piece of lumber from Ringsmith's Hardware in Wakefield and yielded no sugar at all when I cautiously placed my tongue on one end. Could I now, a lifetime of years later, finally determine if the Governor of Hawaii in 1961 was growing something worthwhile? I looked at the package of stalks a little closer and decided that, for $3.99, I was going to find out.  

The experimentation here began almost as soon as the sugar cane thawed. While I was waiting, I turned to Youtube to teach me 'How to eat sugarcane.' Here is my synopsis and photo essay of what I learned.  

The package  

I think I got a pretty good deal for $3.99, don't you? 

The first step is to use a serated knife to cut each stalk into pieces 2 to 3 inches long.  

Stand it on end

Trim off the hard outer layer. 

It came off quite easily. What's left in the good stuff.  

Cut the core into 4 pieces.  Chew and enjoy. 

Do not swallow the woody fibers. Fiber is good for you I know but this level of fiber would do things to your insides that should not be done.

I've discovered that at the joints, the removal of the outer stem is much harder and the  product inside is not as chewable. I chose to discard them.

I'm guessing that the boys will not be overwhelmed if, when they get home from school today and ask me, "What's for tea?" (afternoon snack), I pull out sugar cane pieces. Amiri may, since it's supposed to be sugary, hesitantly touch his tongue to a piece, much as I did so many years ago.  Arram will just look at me and shake his head in the way I have come to know means, "Let's not waste my time or your's talking about this." I'll then get out the crackers and cheese and apple juice. 

But, a seed will have been planted. Parents and grandparents are in the job for the long term after all. As I write this, Mom has been dead for many years, but she's still in my heart and she's still managing my life, if only in small ways such as enticing me to buy frozen sugar cane. The seed she planted when I was ten has borne fruit, well, stalks really, as I turn 65.  And once again I owe Mom a debt of gratitude. 

So I am aware that I have a similar oportunity to plant some seeds in my grandsons' lives. I realize that those seeds may not mature for many years. Doesn't matter in the least. I'm in this grandpa gig for the long term. Mom showed me that I've got time, even time after I'm gone. Funny how that works. My job now is simply to plant the seeds. 

And you know, summer vacation here in New Zealand is only a few weeks away. And Amiri does have a computer. A good one. Why not up the ante and bring Mom's idea for me into the computer age? If he wrote, not to the governors of states, but to the head of state of every country in the world and asked them to send him an example of what their country is known for, just imagine what the lad might get back. Hmmmm....

On second thought, I don't think I want him to come to the attention of most of the leaders of the world's countries. In our world today, the innocence of the early sixties is long gone and what too many countries really export is not something tangible and definitely not what I'd want my grandsons to encounter. I'd better give that idea a pass.  

I'll stick with the simple stuff. We'll experiment with things like a stalk of sugercane or a cherimoya. 

I saw a can of sprats in the supermarket this morning. I have never seen a sprat before, canned or otherwise. What the heck is a sprat anyway? Some kind of fish I know, but that's all I know. Maybe I should buy a can and plant another seed. If Mom's sugar cane seed took 55 years to mature, I'm guessing that my 'sprat seed' might be Really slow to germinate. Oh well, as I said, I've got the time...    -djf