Saccharum

 Sugar cane is any of the species of the perennial true grass genus Saccharum, which is native to Southern Asia and Papau New Guinea. Most of the six species have been domesticated, and their cultivation has helped shaped human history. Sugar cane is one of the primary sources of refined sugar (the sugar beet, Beta vulgaris, being the other). In China, most sugar cane crops are of the species S. sinense, or are hybrid descendants of S. sinense.

During ancient times, Chinese horticulturalists developed two varieties of sugar cane, a dark burgundy to dark purple variety called “Kunlun,” and a green skinned variety, “Fu Fong.” A third variety, developed in modern times, that is a yellow skinned called “Bamboo Sugar Cane.” A fourth, “white” (albeit green skinned) variety is called “Elegant Sugar Cane.” The Kunlun and Bamboo varieties are used primarily for eating directly, while the Fu Fong and Elegant varieties are very tough, fibrous, and used exclusively for sugar and juice extraction. The leaves of all varieties, as well as the leftover pulp, are used as animal fodder.

Humans consume sugar cane either directly, by chewing the pulp of the stem until all of the juice and flavor is chewed out, or drunken as a juice made by grinding and squeezing the juices out of the stems. Because the numerous leaves of the plant are home to its numerous parasites, both fungal and insect, and are home to all manner of vermin, one should make sure that the stems are thoroughly cleaned of all filth, debris, and insects before preparing sugar cane for consumption. In 1991, several hundred farm workers in the Brazilian state of Paraiba contracted Chagas disease when they drank raw sugar cane juice, called “garapa,” contaminated with crushed kissing bugs and kissing bug feces.

In Chinese Traditional Medicine, sugar cane is a nourishing herb that activates the spleen, and the gallbladder to spur enzymatic activity for better digestion. Juice of sugar cane has been used for thousands of years to help soothe cough, especially dry cough of yin deficiency, and nausea. Sugar cane juice is also used to promote urination in order to resolve edema, clear stomach fire, relieve heat stroke, resolve cough due to dry or heat phlegm, and cure difficult urination with pain due to urinary tract infection. A paste of ground and squeezed sugar cane pulp can be applied topically to bedsores to stimulate healing. Sugar cane juice can help to harmonize the Middle and Lower Jiao, and can be used to help detoxify alcohol poisoning.

Sugar cane juice should not be drunk with wine for medicinal purposes. Patients who have non-edema-related dampness syndromes, cold syndromes, or weak constitutions should avoid sugar cane or sugar cane juice.

Sugar cane has vitamins B1, B2, B6, and C, and contains malic and citric acids.