bagasse the fibrous material left over after sugar cane has been through the rollers, and all the juice has been squeezed out.
claying a method of trickling water through raw sugar to whiten it.
creole/Creole depending on the context, a lingua franca that develops where cultures meet; a member of the plantocracy of some Caribbean islands; a person of mixed racial origins; the sterile sugar cane used in the Mediterranean which was taken to the Americas.
defecant material added to the boiling sugar juice to precipitate impurities.
eddoes a form of food found originally on the Gold Coast of Africa, and taken to the New World. It is used for the root of various plants, including Colocasia esculenta and Colocasia macrorhiza (taro).
guinea grass a grass used as feed for the animals that operated mills and hauled cane.
gur a sticky sweet ball of dark sugar, obtained by boiling cane juice.
isinglass a form of gelatin, originally made from the swim bladders of sturgeons, and sometimes used to clear sugar juice.
Jamaica train a system of pans used to heat sugar juice over a single fire, with the juice being moved progressively down to the final pan. It was known to the French as ‘the English train’ and to the Cubans as ‘the French train’.
lime calcium oxide, prepared by lime burners, who roasted shells, coral or marble.
molasses the sticky brown liquid that is left after sugar crystals have been taken from a batch of juice.
ratoon a later crop of sugar cane, growing from previously planted roots left in the ground after an earlier crop has been cut. Usually the cane was replaced after two or three ratoon crops.
rind the outer layer of the sugar cane, surrounding the soft pith that actually contains the sugar juice. The forms cultivated in the Pacific, where they were used mainly for chewing, generally had been selected for a soft rind.
sett a cut piece of sugar cane, usually with two or three joints, used to start new cane growth.
three-roller mill the form of mill which was most efficient in crushing the cane and extracting the juice.
vinasse the fluid left after rum has been distilled from the fermented sugar juice, and which can be a major pollutant of rivers if it is dumped.