People use Sugarcane stems to eat as well as to make sugar. Due to the sugar flavor consists in the stem we think of Sugarcane as a fruit. Some others think due to the usage of the stem of the tree it is a vegetable. By reading this article you will get the correct answer with reasons.
Is the sugarcane a fruit or a vegetable?
Sugarcane is neither fruit nor vegetable. Considered a type of perennial grass. Sugarcane stores starch in the stem and give a sweet, juicy flavor. Sugarcane stems are not produced by flowering or seeding. Therefore Sugarcane is not a fruit.
Vegetables are plants with savory edibility. Sugarcane fiber also doesn’t consume directly. Therefore Sugarcane is not a vegetable.
Let’s discuss this question broadly,
This plant is a cash crop that cultivates to produce sugar by getting the juice of the stem by squeezing through machines. Also, we can nib or chew the inner stem of sugarcane to taste the juice. It has a sweet flavor.
By extracting the sugary juice can make juices. But still, they are not fruit juices. We think if we taste the sweet flavor then it’s a fruit. It s completely a wrong belief. Actually, we don’t consume any part of the Sugarcane tree instead of the juice of the stem.
Although Sugarcane trees have flowers, they are not used for any purpose. These trees cut before flowering because only mature Sugarcane trees have flowers but their stem has no sweet juice. Therefore farmers cut these trees before flowering.
After extracting the juice remaining part of the stem is used for composting and much industrial use. We cannot cook, eat or even digest this part. Therefore Sugarcane is not a vegetable anymore.
What does sugarcane fall under?
Now clearly we can understand, Sugarcane is not a fruit or a vegetable. Now let’s get a clear idea about what does Sugarcane falls under.
Sugarcane (Saccharum oficinarum) is a tropical and subtropical perennial grass, of the family Poaceae that includes maize, wheat, rice, and many forage crops. This commercially valuable flowering plant mainly used to make sugar.
This plant has a number of green color stalks with sword-shaped green color leaves. This tree grows up to 3 to 7 meters in height. Basically, farmers cultivate this crop by planting cuttings. The harvesting time differs from region to region.18- 22 months in South Africa and Peru, 15 months in Australia, and 9 months in Louisiana. In 2017 Sugarcane was been the world’s largest crop by production quantity.
Is sugarcane related to bamboo?
By observing the outer view of both Sugarcane and bamboo you will say both are the same. But if you clearly observe then you can see the difference between each of them.
Sugarcane and Bamboo both are related to the grasses in the Poaceae family of grass. But cane doesn’t have hollows like Bamboo. Cane stems are filled with solidly fibrous, juicy pith. Also, Bamboo has a stem with more diameter and grows much taller than cane.
Therefore we can clearly see both are related to the grass category but they are completely different from each other. Even the usage also different. Sugar cannot be gain from Bamboo because their internodes don’t have sugar.
The growing speed of Bamboo is greater than Sugarcane but with different cane varieties, it can be varied. Normally cane is harvesting before they get mature to extract the maximum amount of juice.
Is sugarcane edible?
Only the juice extracted from the stem of sugarcane is edible. By chewing or by squishing the stem using roller mills sweet-flavored juice can be tasted. The juice tastes like sweetened water. Any other part of the tree is not edible and even the interior stem is also not edible because they are difficult to digest.
If you get raw sugarcane first thing you have to do is to cut the stem into small pieces about 7cm in length then remove the outer green layer of the stem till you can see the pale white color stem.
Now you have separated the edible part of sugarcane. Next, you can chew the stem-like chewing gum. But be careful not to swallow the fibrous parts. Just taste the sweet flavored juice of it.
Conclusion
Sugarcane (Saccharum oficinarum) is not a fruit or vegetable. It’s a type of perennial grass. Mainly this tree is used to make sugar from the extracted juice of its stem. Also, we can taste the sweet flavored juice inside the stem by chewing it like chewing gum. You can taste the real natural sweet flavor with this plant.
