Sugar production

At GARDEL, we pride ourselves on producing high quality brown sugar,
thanks to a process that has been mastered for generations and continually improved.
Discover each stage of production.

1 Reception and measurement saccharimetric

Canes must be processed quickly: as soon as they are cut, the sugars they contain begin to degrade.
Before unloading, an independent organization, the Centre Technique de la Canne et du Sucre (CTCS), checks the sucrose content of the raw material delivered.
Once received, the cane is stored in the yard and processed within 12 hours to preserve its full sugar content.

2 Cane crushing

Our plant can process up to 4,500 tonnes of cane a day.
The cane is first shredded, then crushed by passing through five successive mills.
The challenge is to extract almost all the sugar contained in the cane. At the end of this stage, all the bagasse is sent to the nearby ALBIOMA power plant, to be burned and converted into energy.

3 Juice purification

By decanting and filtering, the juices are cleaned of residual organic matter (…). The skimmings are used to make compost, which is then used as a soil improver in the cane fields.

What is bagasse?

The fibrous material found after juice extraction is called bagasse.
Bagasse is a 50% moisture fiber, composed mainly of cellulose.

Our site is connected to the ALBIOMA electrical cogeneration plant, enabling bagasse to be transported directly by conveyor belt. It is burned there, producing steam which, under pressure, drives an electric turbine. Some of this steam is then diverted to our sugar mill to power our evaporators and boilers. Thanks to bagasse and the work of our planters, GARDEL contributes to the production of 20% of Guadeloupe’s electricity.

4 Evaporation

With steam from ALBIOMA, the juice is heated in evaporators and concentrated to become syrup. GARDEL has five successive energy-saving evaporators to concentrate the sugar into syrup.

5 Crystallization

This is the crucial stage, around which the operators build up the grain to the desired size in successive cuites.
To generate crystallization, the first step is to seed the syrup with sugar dust, around which the crystal will form.
GARDELhas numerous cuites, some running continuously, others discontinuously, depending on the product required.
This stage, which requires highly specialized know-how, takes around 6 to 12 hours.
The result is a crystallized masse cuite: small crystals floating in a colored syrup.

6 Centrifugation

The crystallized massecuite is continuously poured into turbines which, by centrifugal force, separate the grain from the syrup. It is during the last centrifuging stage that a famous co-product is generated: molasses.

What is molasses?

Molasses is a by-product of the sugar depletion of crystallized syrups.
Composed of sugars such as glucose, sucrose and fructose,
molasses has always been used in the history of sugar.
molasses is mainly used in distilleries, where, after fermentation and distillation,
molasses is used to produce traditional sugar rum.

Part of this molasses is used to make GARDEL rum,
the other part being sold to the Bonne-Mère distillery in Sainte-Rose.

7 Drying

In large cylindrical dryers, the sugar is stirred with dry air to reduce its moisture content. Sugar must be perfectly dry to ensure it keeps well.

8 Packaging

Raw sugars destined for refining in Europe are stored in bulk in our silo in Jarry, close to the port, to facilitate shipping. Sugars for direct consumption, also known as special sugars, GARDEL’s main product, are packaged in hermetically sealed one-ton big bags.
Our special sugars are then shipped throughout the West Indies and Europe in these big-bags or in 25kg bags, mainly to our food industry customers.
These same sugars are also the ones you find in your supermarket, packaged in 2kg to 500gr bags or even in 5gr brichettes.

It takes an average of 48 hours to complete these stages, bringing the cane to your plate and allowing you to savor our sugar.

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