Barbados Molten Memories
Boiling Sugar: The Bitter Side of Sweet In 18th-century Barbados, cane sugar production required the use of cast-iron syrup kettles, a method later on embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was crushed using wind and animal-powered mills. The drawn out juice was heated up, clarified, and evaporated in a series of cast-iron kettles of decreasing size to produce crystallized sugar. Barbados Sugar Economy: A Bitter Success. The start of the "plantation system" changed the island's economy. Large estates owned by wealthy planters controlled the landscape, with oppressed Africans supplying the labour needed to sustain the demanding process of planting, harvesting, and processing sugarcane. This system produced enormous wealth for the nest and strengthened its place as a key player in the Atlantic trade. But African slaves toiled in perilous conditions, and many died in the infamous Boiling room, as you will see next: The Dangerous Labour Of Sugar In the glory of Barbados...