sugar cane

Sugarcane, (scientific name: Saccharum officinarum) belongs to the genus Saccharum, and is a tall, solid perennial herb. The rhizome is thick and well-developed. The stalk is 3-5 (-6) meters high. It is widely planted in southern tropical regions such as Taiwan, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan. Sugarcane is suitable for planting in places with fertile soil, sufficient sunshine, and large temperature differences between winter and summer. Sugarcane is a temperate and tropical crop. It is the raw material for making sucrose, and can be refined into ethanol as an energy substitute. More than 100 countries in the world produce sugarcane, and the largest sugarcane producers are Brazil, India, and China. Sugarcane is rich in sugar and water, as well as various vitamins, fats, proteins, organic acids, calcium, iron, and other substances that are very beneficial to human metabolism. It is mainly used for sugar production. The skin is generally purple and green, two common colors, and there are also red and brown, but they are relatively rare.

Nutritional value of sugarcane

Sugarcane juice contains a variety of amino acids and organic acids.

Amino acids include: Asparagine, Aspartic acid, Glutamicacid, Serine, Alanine, Valine, Leucine, Norleucine, Lysine, Threonine, Glutamine, Proline, Tyrosine, Cystine, γ-Aminobutyric acid and Phenylalanine.

Organic acids include: Mesaconic acid, Fumaric acid, Succinic acid, Aconitic acid, Glycolic acid, Malic acid, Citric acid and Oxalic acid.

The stem contains vitamin B1, vitamin B2, namely riboflavin, vitamin B6, namely pyridoxine, and vitamin C, namely ascorbic acid, sucrose, fructose and glucose.

The efficacy and function of sugarcane

Dietary effects

1. Used for heat damage to body fluids, irritability and thirst, or excessive drinking. Chew and swallow the juice, or squeeze the juice to drink.

2. For dry cough, dry throat and thick phlegm. Take the juice of sugarcane and pear, or cook sugarcane juice and millet into porridge.

3. Used for insufficient stomach yin, nausea and vomiting. Take this product as juice or with ginger juice.

4. Used for bladder dampness and heat, short and dark urine, and urinary tract infection. 500 grams of sugar cane and 40 grams of fresh plantain are decocted in water to extract juice.

5. For constipation: Mix 50ml of sugarcane juice, citrus aurantium decoction and honey, and take on an empty stomach in the morning and evening.

Health Benefits

1. Supplement heat energy. Sugarcane is rich in carbohydrates, which can provide the body with sufficient heat energy and has a good effect on preventing and treating hypoglycemia.

2. Produces body fluids and quenches thirst. Sugarcane has a high water content and contains a variety of organic acids, which can cool down and relieve heat and eliminate fatigue.

3. Inhibit tumors. According to research, sugarcane bagasse contains polysaccharides (mainly composed of pentose and hexose) that have an inhibitory effect on mouse Ehrlich carcinoma and sarcoma.

Medicinal value of sugarcane

1. Fever and dry mouth

It is effective to peel the sugarcane, chew it slowly and swallow the juice.

2. Vomiting and nausea

For vomiting and nausea, we can take 50 mg (about 1 liang) of warm sugarcane juice three times a day. Adding a small amount of ginger juice will have a better effect.

3. Stop cough caused by deficiency heat

Cook porridge with about 700 ml of sugarcane juice and half a pound of sorghum rice. Eat it twice a day. It has the effect of moistening the heart and lungs and stopping cough caused by deficiency heat.

4. Clean teeth and prevent tooth decay

Sugarcane has a lot of fiber, and when chewed repeatedly, it is like brushing your teeth with a toothbrush, sweeping away the dirt left in the mouth and between the teeth, thereby improving the self-cleaning and anti-caries ability of the teeth. Therefore, sugarcane is also a mouth cleaner.

5. Facial beauty

At the same time, chewing sugarcane is also a good exercise for teeth and oral muscles, and has the effect of beautifying the face.

Side effects and contraindications of sugarcane

People with weak spleen and stomach should take it with caution.

① "Ben Cao Jing Shu" says: "Those with cold stomach, vomiting, fullness and diarrhea should avoid it."

② "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Eating too much and for a long time can cause dampness and fire, which can cause phlegm, bloating, vomiting, and cough."

Yellow-skinned sugarcane, commonly known as yellow-skinned fruit sugarcane, is sweet and cool in nature. It has the effect of clearing away heat and can relieve lung heat and gastrointestinal heat. For people with lung heat cough, excessive phlegm, and thick yellow phlegm, you can use bamboo sugarcane juice with pear juice to enhance the effect of moisturizing and clearing lung heat. Juice made from bamboo sugarcane and raw lotus root has the same effect. As for people with lung heat cough and coughing to the point of vomiting blood, drinking this can relieve them. In addition, it is said that this recipe is also effective for urinary system infections, commonly known as (red urine).

Sugarcane with dark purple and almost black skin, commonly known as black sugarcane, has a warm nature and is not suitable for people with sore throats and excessive heat.

Sugarcane juice itself is cold, so people with weak constitutions should not drink too much. If people with cold cough (white and thin sputum) drink it by mistake, the condition may be aggravated immediately. It is said that steaming the sugarcane before squeezing the juice can avoid this disadvantage, but the actual effect remains to be verified. On the contrary, boiling bamboo sugarcane with white imperata root and carrots in water does have the effect of clearing heat, which is most suitable for children with a lot of eye mucus and bad temper. If water chestnuts (water chestnuts) are added, it can be drunk as water when children have chickenpox or measles. It can clear heat and detoxify, which can not only help the virus to break out, but also speed up recovery. As the main source of sugar, the nutritional value of sugarcane is really unquestionable. If you think sugarcane juice is monotonous, you can use it to cook rice, which can soothe the stomach and make you appetite.

How to make delicious sugarcane

1. Eat directly, chop off the skin with a knife, chew the flesh, and spit out the residue after chewing out the juice.

2. Wash the sugar cane, chop the skin into small pieces, put it in the oven or on the grill, and bake it at high temperature for 10 minutes. You can eat it. Be sure to bake it with the skin on so that the moisture of the sugar cane will not be dried out; turn it over halfway to ensure even heating; the roasted sugar cane is sweeter and has a throat-soothing effect. It is a food therapy product to protect the throat when the weather is cold.

3. Peel the sugarcane, remove the nodes, cut it into one-inch long pieces, and then cut it vertically into thin strips. Put it into a porcelain bowl, add rose petals and sugar, and marinate it overnight to make "rose sugarcane". The next day, take out the sugarcane strips and chew them carefully. You will feel the sweetness penetrating your internal organs, and your teeth and cheeks will be filled with the fragrance of roses.

4. Slice the sugarcane, add wine cakes into the steamer, and distill the sugarcane wine. Drinking it can improve blood circulation and drive away the cold.