Screening of Local Sugar Syrup Clarifiers for Brown Sugar Production

Abstract

Brown Sugar is a raw sugar which contains about 97% pure sucrose crystal. Clarification is the process of removing all extraneous materials and dark colouration in order to have a clear juice for high purity sugar and also to arrest the activities of microorganisms which cause inversion and fermentation. The bark of okro (Hibiscus esculentus) stem extract and extract of Sodom apple (Calotropis procera) have been reported to be effective in clarifying sugar syrup. However, since the extract is liquid it cannot be preserved or stored for a reasonable length of time. This research therefore aimed at producing a shelf stable sugar syrup clarificant (powder) using bark of Okro stem powder, Sodom Apple leaves powder and bark of okoho (Cissus polpunea) stem powder and Calcium hydroxide as control. The samples were dried at 40 degrees till constant weight was gotten and milled into powder using hammer mill. Cane juice was extracted from freshly harvested cane, transferred into pans and heated. The clarificants were added as the brix of the syrup reached 22%. The dirty particles formed were removed from time to time until a clear juice was left to crystallize for 5hours. The final brix after 50minutes ranges from 33% - 71% for the samples and 72% for the control, There was no good yield in for Sodom apple and okoho with increase in resident time. The result showed that okro stem bark could be exploited for the development of a good local sugar syrup clarifier.