4. Types of sugar mills

1. Push or grip

• Driving force: Human
• Description: Used in small mills to make rapadura or brandy for home consumption. They could produce small quantities of sugar for domestic use.

2. Almanjarra, trapiche, molinote, atafona or oxen

• Driving force: Animals (usually oxen or in some cases horses)
• Description: Used on large plantations, they were essential for milling sugar cane on a large scale.

3. Water Mill

• Driving force: Water (water wheel)
• Description: Considered the most efficient for centuries due to their ability to operate continuously and in large quantities.

4. Banguê

• Driving force: Steam
• Description: Introduced in Brazil in the 19th century, it was a major innovation in sugar production.

5. Captivating

• Driving force: Human
• Description: Small device powered by three sticks.

6. Seesaw

• Driving force: Human
• Description: Small wooden hand mill with two cylinders.

7. Dead Fire

• Description: A term used to describe an inoperative device.

Considerations

• Terminology: It is important to note that terms such as almanjarra, trapiche and banguê can have different meanings, so it is important to use expressions such as “engenho de trapiche” or “engenho-banguê” to avoid confusion.
• Availability of resources: The proliferation of watermills in Brazil was due to the abundance of rivers and streams and the initial scarcity of cattle. The use of oxen required larger pastures and adequate corrals.

Quote

The quotation from Antônio Vieira de Antonil underlines the importance and complexity of sugar mills in sugar production, reflecting human ingenuity and skill in the construction and operation of these systems.

Whoever called the workshops where sugar is made “ engenhos ” (sugar mills) really got the name right. For whoever sees them and considers with reflection that they deserve it, is obliged to confess that they are one of the main achievements and inventions of human ingenuity, which, with a small portion of the Divine, always shows itself to be admirable in its way of working… (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 13-14).

These observations reveal the intrinsic relationship between production techniques, available labour and environmental conditions in colonial Brazil.

It couldn’t be done in Brazil; The costs of the colonial facilities were so great, in their virgin lands and in a hostile environment, with all the necessary defences, cultivation, transportation and shipping equipment, it wasn’t justifiable in the early days to build the so-called small mills.

Hence the early construction of medium-sized mills, producing more than three thousand arrobas a year, which then developed into facilities producing more than ten thousand arrobas“. (AMARAL, 1958, p. 329).

5. Structure of a sugar mill in colonial Brazil

In rural nomenclature, the word engenho came to refer both to the so-called Casa de Engenho, the place where sugar, cane was ground, and to sugar, rapadura or aguardente, and the whole farm itself, the whole agro-industrial complex involved in growing sugar cane and making sugar.

Estrutura de um Engenho de Açúcar no Brasil Colônia

“Its central element is the engenho (sugar mill), that is, the factory itself, where the facilities for handling the cane and preparing the sugar are gathered. The name ‘engenho’ was later extended from the factory to the entire estate with its land and crops: ‘engenho’ and ‘sugarcane estate’ became synonyms“. (PRADO JR, 1981, p. 23).

The mill was a real settlement, requiring not only the use of many arms, but also the necessary land for cane fields, scrubland, pasture and supplies.

In fact, in addition to the mill house, dwelling, slave, quarters and infirmary, it was necessary to have about a hundred settlers or slaves to work about 1,200 tasks of massapê (900 square fathoms), in addition to the pastures, fences, vessels, utensils, iron, copper, yoke of oxen and other animals.” (SIMONSEN, 1937, p. 149).

What would a mill have looked like in the century of discovery? The same as described by Saint-Hilaire in the 19th century. Fernão Cardim describes them:

Each of them is an incredible machine and factory; some are water mills, others water mills, which grind more and with less effort; others are not water mills, but grind with oxen and are called trapiches; These have a much larger factory and expenditure, and although they grind less, they grind all year round, which the water mills do not have, because they sometimes lack it.

Each of them usually has six, eight or more white houses and at least 60 slaves needed for ordinary service, but most of them have one hundred and two hundred slaves from Guinea and the country.

The mills require 60 oxen, which take turns grinding every 12 hours, usually starting at midnight and finishing the next day at three or four hours after midday. For each task they use a 12-layer firewood barrel and pour 60 moulds of white, brown, soft and high sugar. Each shape is just over half an arroba, although large arroba shapes are already used in Pernambuco“. (AMARAL, 1958, p. 329).

Gilberto Freyre, in his books Casa-grande & Senzala (1933), Nordeste (1937) and Açúcar (1939), pointed out that the main structures of an engenho (here in the sense of a farm) were as follows

1. casa-grande
2. Slave quarters,
3. mill
4. Chapel
5. Beyond the sugar cane fields

1. Big House

The large house was the home of the plantation owner and his family. The name “casa grande” was no coincidence, as they were real mansions, but they only became luxurious towards the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century and the 19th century.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the large houses were not so luxurious and were even made of mud, washed stone, lime, straw or thatched roofs. Freyre points out that in the 19th century we see more expensive and luxurious materials in the construction and decoration of these houses.

Being a senhor de engenho is a title that many aspire to, because it means being served, obeyed and respected by many. And if you are, as you should be, a man of wealth and government, then being the lord of a sugar mill can be as highly regarded in Brazil as the titles among the nobles of the kingdom.

For there are mills in Bahia that give the master four thousand loaves of sugar, and others a little less, with cane forced into the mill, of whose yield the mill gets at least half, as of any other that is freely ground in it; and in some parts even more than half.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 19).

2. Senzalas

The senzalas were the dwellings where the black slaves lived. They were poor and unhealthy places to sleep. In many cases, slaves slept with their feet tied together to prevent escape attempts or fights between them, as slaves were expensive commodities.

Slave quarters were large, housing 20, 50 or more slaves, depending on the fortune of the plantation owner to buy labour. In general, large mills had between 50 and 60 slaves.

There was no division of rooms; men, women and children slept in the same place. In front of the slave quarters was the so-called tronco or pelourinho, a place used to punish or “educate” the slaves, as it was called in the 16th century.

3. The Chapel

The chapel was a religious and governmental necessity because, as Portugal was a Catholic nation, and its population was massively Catholic – the Indians and Africans having been converted to Catholicism – it was necessary for Catholic Christians to attend Sunday mass, confess to the priest, have their children baptised, catechised, confirmed, married, participate in liturgical days, etc. As the farms were far from the towns and cities, it was necessary to bring the word of God to the faithful; hence the large farms had chapels and chaplains.

The chaplains were not only the clerical representatives on these estates, but were also responsible for the education of the mill owner’s children.

In the case of the boy, when he reached adolescence he would be sent to another school in the town or city or, if necessary, to Portugal to study at the universities of Lisbon or Coimbra. However, this practice of sending boys to Portugal became more common in the 18th century; before that, we have few plantation owners sending their children to Europe, because for them, what their children needed to learn, they would learn there, so that they could manage the farm.

4. Beyond the sugar cane fields

Besides the sugar and cane fields, which were the main plantations of the engenho, there were other small crops, because you can’t live on sugar alone.

On the large estates, and even on medium and small ones, we find crops or ” roçados, to use a Brazilian term for them.

The ” roçados ” grew mainly manioc, from which flour was made (manioc eaten raw carries the risk of poisoning, hence the need to make flour to remove the poisonous substance).

Since there were no wheat plantations in the colony for a long time, only the rich could import wheat flour to make bread, cakes, pasta, etc. But even the rich, who didn’t like the high price of wheat flour, had to make do with manioc flour. Cassava flour was the staple food of colonial society and was even used to feed slaves and animals.

These gardens were created to provide food for the slaves, because initially there were no gardens in the mills, so the mill owners had to buy food in the towns or from other farms. As time went on, however, we can already see these plantations on the large estates.

These plantations grew not only cassava but also other crops such as pulses, beans, rice, corn, potatoes, bananas, oranges, lemons, pineapples, mangoes, jackberries, potatoes, etc., were tended by slaves or free people.

In addition to the plantation owner, his family and the chaplain, there were other free men and women who did a variety of jobs in the sugar industry, as will be seen below; they worked as foremen, supervising the slaves; they acted as artisans, blacksmiths, boatmen, fishermen, cowboys, shepherds, potters, etc., tended the fields, acted as messengers, informal doctors, etc.

On the farms there were chicken coops, corrals, pigsties, stables, workshops, potteries, warehouses, and houses for freemen or for slaves who had won the right to start a family.

In the trapiche mills, the corrals were larger to house the oxen and cows used to move the mill. In addition, there was a need for pasture to feed the cattle, because in the large sugar cane plantations it was problematic to set aside land for pasture, in addition to having to watch to make sure the cattle didn’t eat the cane field.

Apart from that, the engenho was an autonomous economy; cloth was woven there for the slaves; the family’s clothes were made in the middle of it; The diet consisted of fish caught on boats or otherwise oysters and shellfish caught on the beaches and in the mangroves, game caught in the bush, poultry, goats, pigs for the south, and sheep for the north, mostly home-grown – hence the ease of accommodating unexpected guests and the colonial hospitality that still characterises places that are little visited.

Of the milk cows there were corrals, few because they didn’t make cheese or butter; little beef was consumed, because of the difficulty of rearing rezes in places unsuitable for their propagation, because of the inconveniences for farming resulting from their propagation, which reduced these cattle to what was strictly necessary for agricultural service.” (BRANDÃO, 1956, p. 6).

There were mills, powered by water and oxen; served by carts or boats; located by the sea or further away, but not too far away, since the difficulties of communication allowed only arches of limited radius; there were enough to produce more than ten thousand arôbas of sugar and not enough to produce a third of that sum. Let’s imagine a schematic sugar mill for comparison – the existing mills differed more or less from the schematic, as is natural.

It had to have large cane fields, abundant and nearby firewood, a large slave population, capable cattle, various implements, mills, coils, moulds, purifying houses, stills; it had to have trained staff because the raw material went through various processes before it was delivered for consumption; hence a certain very imperfect division of labour, especially a certain division of production.

The product was shipped directly overseas; the payment came from overseas in cash or in objects given in exchange, and there weren’t many of them: fine farms, drinks, wheat flour, in short, luxury objects.

By luxury they were able to buy supplies from less well-off farmers, and this was common in Pernambuco, so much so that one of the grievances of the Pernambucans against the Dutch was that they were forced to establish a certain number of cassava plantations (BRANDÃO, 1956, p. 6).

Before moving on to the next part of this article, it’s important to note that mill owners could cede part of their land to tenants, as well as receive the produce of small farmers to be ground in their mills.

Although the owner usually exploits his land directly (as understood above), there are frequent cases in which he cedes parts of it to farmers who grow and produce sugar cane on their own account, but are obliged to mill their production in the owner’s mill.

These are called fazendas obrigadas; the farmer receives half of the sugar produced from his cane and also pays a percentage of the rent for the land he uses, which varies according to time and place and ranges from 5 to 20 per cent.

There are also free farmers who own the land they occupy and mill their cane in the mill of their choice; they then receive the full share.

Although these farmers are socially lower than the mill owners, they are not small producers in the category of peasants. They are the masters of slaves and their crops, whether on their own land or leased, form large units, like the mills“. (PRADO JR, 1981, p. 23).

As Caio Prado Júnior has pointed out, the engenhos worked with some farmers who worked part of their land for them or, if they owned it themselves, supplied cane to be ground in their engenhos.

This was an old practice, since before the middle of the 17th century, the Dutch Adriaen van der Dussen mentions in his above-mentioned report that many of the mills had tenant relations with these free farmers. In his report he uses the terms “partido da fazenda” and “tarefa”.

The first term refers to the lord of the plantation, while the second refers to the farmers who provide the cane to be ground on the plantation.

In exchange for giving up their inns to grind other people’s cane, the engenho’s lord took a percentage of these “tasks”. However, the farmers were responsible for transporting the cane to the mill and for collecting the sugar.

6. Sugar production

1. Mill House
2. Boiler House
3. Wash House
4. Sugar drying process
5. Sugar rinsing recipe
6. Weighing and packing sugar
7. Labourers involved in sugar production

We usually study the macro context of sugar production, but the stages of sugar production are left out. So in this topic, I’ve dedicated myself to describing how sugar was made, as well as showing the sections of the sugar mill or casa de engenho.

It is interesting to note that Antonil [1711], who reported on sugar production in the 18th century, tells us that many of the workers in the sugar mill were women, as will be seen below. One of the reasons for this is that the women would receive more attention while the men did the heavier work in the cane fields and the transportation.

Although it should be mentioned that this was not homogeneous, as Antonil was speaking from the beginning of the 18th century. The important thing to know is that it was slaves who did most of the work, although there were free labourers involved in sugar production.

Celso Furtado [2005] points out that one of the reasons for Portugal’s success in developing the sugar industry was the investment in developing equipment and techniques for sugar production.

He says that in the 14th and 15th centuries sugar production was known throughout the Mediterranean, but in this case the Genoese and Venetians were the main experts in these techniques and in the production of equipment, so they had a sort of monopoly on sugar production techniques.

It is also interesting to note that from the 15th to the 17th centuries, the Dutch, Flemish and Belgians specialised in refining sugar, as the mills didn’t do this. The elites didn’t want dense, dark, hard sugar; they wanted white, fine, crystalline sugar, so it had to be refined.

“From the middle of the 16th century, Portuguese sugar production became more and more a joint venture with the Flemish, represented first by the interests of Antwerp and then by those of Amsterdam. The Flemish collected the product in Lisbon, refined it and distributed it throughout Europe, especially in the Baltics, France and England.

The contribution of the Flemish – especially the Dutch – to the great expansion of the sugar market in the second half of the 16th century is a fundamental factor in the successful colonisation of Brazil. Specialised in intra-European trade, much of which they financed, the Dutch were the only people at the time with sufficient commercial organisation to create a large market for a virtually new product such as sugar” (FURTADO, 2005, p. 20).

The sugar mill was basically divided into three parts: the mill house, the boiler house and the cleaning house. Each of these stages represented a stage in the production of sugar. In the case of cachaça and rapadura, there are differences after the second stage, which I’ll return to briefly below.

1. Mill House

In this room was the mill, a wooden machine with presses that, when moved by a gearwheel mechanism powered by human, animal or hydraulic force, crushed the cane so that it was squeezed by force, thus extracting the juice. This juice was collected in pots and taken to the next stage. Antonil [1711] considered the mill house to be the most dangerous stage, as there was a risk that a slave might get his hand caught and be pulled by the arm through the press, being crushed and possibly losing his arm or even dying.

The danger was doubled by the fact that the mill worked day and night, as already mentioned. Therefore, tired slaves could fall asleep due to the arduous day, hence the need to always have several people on the premises to avoid such tragedies.

The most dangerous place in the engenho is the mill, because if the slave who is putting the stick between the shafts, either through sleep, fatigue or any other carelessness, carelessly puts her hand further forward than she should, she risks being crushed between the shafts if they don’t immediately cut off the trapped hand or arm with a machete near the mill, Or, if they’re not so quick, to stop the mill by diverting the water that hurts the wheel’s hubs with the pejador, so that they can quickly give the sufferer a remedy.

And this danger is even greater at night, when they grind as much as during the day, even though they take turns putting in the cane for their teams, especially if those who do it are boorish or used to getting drunk.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 54).

As has been pointed out, the most efficient mills were those powered by water wheels, although they were the most expensive. In the case of trapiche mills, several oxen were used to move the trapiche which turned the mill.

Depending on the mill, eight, ten or twelve oxen could be used at a time for each working cycle; Dussen [1947] and Amaral [1958] point out that sugar cane milling sometimes took all day, extending into the night and dawn to save time.

The mill needed at least seven or eight female slaves: Three to bring in the cane, one to put it in, one to pass the bagasse, one to fix and light the lamps, of which there are five in the mill, and one to clean the juice trough (which they call the “cocheira” or “calumbá”) and the stings of the mill, refreshing them with water so that they don’t burn, using the water parol under the wheel to catch the water that falls into the sting, and to wash the bundled cane; and another, finally, to dispose of the bagasse, either in the river or in the bagaceira, to be burnt in due course.

And if it is necessary to put it in a more distant place, not only one slave will suffice, but another will have to help, otherwise it won’t flow in time and the mill will be hindered”. (ANTONIL, 1711, pp. 54-55).

It’s important to note that the shape of the mills and their size varied according to the era. Therefore, we can’t speak of a homogeneous machine, since they were initially made by hand, although they followed certain proportions.

2. Boiler House

This was probably the most dangerous place to work, due to the risk of being burnt or starting a fire, although Antonil disagrees with this opinion, as we have already seen.

Gilberto Freyre even said that in this part of the mill the slaves worked under close observation and could even be chained, as they might try to sabotage the production, spill the pots or start a fire.

The boiler house or furnace room has been likened to a “little volcano” in Antonil’s words; in any case, it was a very hot and stuffy place. Some scholars prefer to separate the boiler house from the oven house, pointing out that they were different places, but this depends on which period they are referring to.

This wing of the Engenho housed the copper kettles used to boil the broth. Dussen [1947], writing in the 17th century, mentions that the mills had 4, 5 or 6 large pots and 3 to 4 smaller pots.

The large pots were used to boil the broth, and the smaller pots were used to cool the broth before moving on to the next stage. These pots were imported, coming from the metropolis, as there were no smithies in the colony capable of making such equipment.

In the boiler house, as I said, there were several pots and pans, so we went through them to get to know them, as they represented each stage in the boiling of the sugar cane juice:

• Clarifying boiler: In the early mills, the juice was mixed with lime to filter out impurities before boiling;
• Boiler: a pot used to receive the broth from the mill house;
• Middle boiler: a pot in which boiling began and the first and second froths, which contained impurities such as pieces of leaves, stalks, sugarcane bagasse, etc., were removed;
• Caldeira de melar (molasses boiler): the boiling continued and the third foam was removed and taken to the escuma parol. Garapa was also made here;
• Parol de melar: After being boiled and the foam removed, the broth was put here to be strained;
• Parol de coar: is where the broth is strained. The term seasoning is also used at this stage;
• Receiving pot: After being strained, the broth was stirred, skimmed, boiled and decocted, adding water with ashes to help filter out any impurities;
• Porta pot: After the broth has been skimmed, strained and decocted, it is further boiled;
• Cooking pot: the broth continues to boil and reaches its “point”. This is the final stage of the cooking process, as from here the molasses is added to begin the resting and cooling process;
• Mixing Bowl: The molasses is beaten with a mixer to crystallise it, making it more consistent and thicker;
• Discharging: After being beaten, the molasses was discharged, a term used to refer to the act of transferring the molasses from the previous batch to this one, where it would be taken to the cooler where it would rest and cool;
• Parol de escuma: the place where the foam from the three foams was deposited to be reused.

I’ve explained the main stages here, but depending on the era, we’ll see new stages and pots used to filter the juice, as the process has undergone new techniques throughout its history.

In the boiler house worked a few free men, called boilermakers, who were responsible for checking the sugar point, i.e. the exact boiling temperature.

Antonil [1711] mentions that in this part of the sugar factory most of the workers were men, but there was a slave woman called a “calcanha” who was responsible for cleaning the room, lighting the lamps, collecting the second and third foam removed and putting it back into a parol (a type of vessel), as this foam had other uses.

In addition to the pots, parols and boilers, other tools and containers used at this stage included

• beater: similar to the skimmer but without the holes. It was used to beat the molasses after boiling.
• Caneca: A container used to transfer the broth from one pot to another.
• Ashtray: a square receptacle in which hot water was mixed with ashes to be used in the decoada, the reception.
• Spoon: a large spoon with holes in it, used to stir the molasses after boiling.
• Ladle: A iron ladle with a long handle, used to taste the broth.
• Skimmer: a type of spoon with several holes, used to remove the foam.
• Fôrma: Stoneware pot in which the molasses was placed to begin the purification process.
• Passadeira: large spoon used to transfer the boiling broth to the next pot.
• Picadeira: iron spear used to remove the remains of molasses stuck to the pots, parols and boilers.
• Pomba or reminhol: large spoon used to remove the molasses from the last rate. It was also used to add water to the decoada.
• Cooler: A tank in which the molasses rested and cooled before being poured into moulds.

Such equipment and containers were commonly used in the production of sugar, but by the 19th century they had become obsolete, other tools and machines such as centrifuges, filtering, machines, foaming, machines, evaporators, etc., were used. were used in this process, reflecting the industrial revolution of the 18th century.

After boiling, the juice, initially light green or yellowish in colour, becomes what is known as cane honey, sugarcane, honey, boreal, honey or molasses. A brownish substance rich in sucrose, carbohydrates, iron, etc.

In addition to sugar, molasses is used to make cachaça, rapadura, rum, broths, etc.

The clay pots, also known as fôrma, pão-de-açúcar and sino-de-mel, were conical or pyramidal vessels with a hole in the top. During the purging stage, the remaining molasses came out through this hole and was deposited in the jarra de castela, a basin that collected this molasses for reuse.

“The sugar moulds are clay pots fired in the tile kiln, and bear a certain resemblance to bells, three and a half palms high and proportionally wide, with a greater circumference at the mouth and narrower at the end, where they are pierced to wash and purge the sugar through this hole” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 75).

In 24 hours, 20 to 30 moulds are made in an oxen mill, 40, 50 or 60 in a water mill and 40, 50, 60 or 70 and more moulds if the mill is able to grind a lot of cane and if it is rich in sugar, which, as we have said, depends on the time and care taken during cultivation.

The mould holds one arroba of sugar if it is more or less good, less if it is inferior. The best sugar weighs more, and a mould can hold 40 or more pounds, up to 50 or 60” (DUSSEN, 1947, p. 94).

The value of an arroba at the time Dussen is referring to would be about 14.688 kg today, which is about 25 pounds. So a clay pot weighing 2 arrobas, or 50 pounds, would be equivalent to almost 30 kg of sugar.

3. The house of purgation

Antonil, writing in the 18th century, tells us that the purgar house (purgar means to remove impurities) was usually separate from the sugar mill, and was sometimes the largest enclosure, as this was where the sugar was stored to be purified, as we will see below.

He tells us that in Bahia and Sergipe there were large purifying houses made of stone, lime and maçaranduba wood. These houses would be more than 200 square metres in area and would be real sheds with several windows to allow good air circulation and light in, which would help the sun’s heat to dry the sugar more quickly.

In this large room there were rows of scaffolding on which the sugar loaves were placed. This account is interesting because, unlike Dussen and Barléu, which refer to Pernambuco, here we have an example from Bahia.

In the purging house there are shelves on which the moulds are placed. On each shelf there are 10 to 12 moulds, 8 to 10 shelves next to each other, under each of which are the cups for the honey.

This is called a framework. Each rack holds about 100 moulds and in a purging house there are 20, 25 and 30 racks, so that 2,000 to 3,000 moulds can be stored”. (DUSSEN, 1947, p. 94).

As mentioned earlier, sugar production varied according to the size of the mill and the power used to move it. Dussen’s example comes from a mill in Pernambuco that he visited in the 1630s, when the Dutch controlled the region.

These clay moulds had a conical or pyramidal shape to make it easier for the remaining molasses inside the container to escape, as this molasses gives the sugar a dark colour, something known as raw sugar, more commonly called brown or sugar.

Brown sugar has a colour between caramel, light brown and dark yellow and a different taste to white sugar.

Inside the moulds, Dussen says that the sugar was left to rest for six to eight days, beaten with a small hammer to compress it more and more, to squeeze out the rest of the molasses so that it came out through the hole at the bottom. Antonil [1711] mentions a period of 3 to 15 days to wait for the sugar to clear.

Antonil also says that sugar that hardened but did not become brittle was called “closed face”, while sugar that became brittle was called “broken face”. Therefore, more attention should be paid to jars of brittle sugar, as this meant they hadn’t dried properly.

“The hole in these moulds, which is covered at first, keeps the sugar coagulated and moist; when it is opened, it allows the honey to pass through to wash out the sugar. Then the front of the mould is covered with clay, because it is believed that by repeating this operation several times, the impurities are more completely expelled and the sugar whitens more”. (BARLÉU, 1940, p. 95).

In addition to this mechanical technique of compressing the sugar, a thin layer of clay or mud was poured, which slowly mixed with the sugar and the clay in turn absorbed the molasses. This stage was carried out on the washing counter and in the trough where the tendal was located, the space where the moulds were placed.

“In front of the door of the Purging House there is a Vestibule on six Pillars, eighty-two metres long and twenty-four metres wide, under which is the Mashing Counter; and on the other side, the Trough for kneading the clay which is put into the moulds to purify the sugar; and further on, the Drying Counter, eighty metres long and fifty-six metres wide, supported by twenty-five brick pillars.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 78).

Antonil tells us that there were four women working in the washing house, responsible for preparing the clay moulds for the sugar and washing them.

The four purification slaves first dig the already dry sugar with iron diggers in the middle of the face of the mould (which is the upper part), and then level and trim it very well with mallets; Then they put the first clay into it, taking it with a reminhol from the pots that came full of it from their trough, already kneaded in their account, and with the palm of their hand they spread it over the whole face of the mould, two fingers high.

On the second or third day, they put on the top of the same clay half a reminhol or a gourd and half a pint of water, and so that it doesn’t fall into the clay and make holes in the sugar, they take the water in their left hand, which is near the clay, And then with the palm of their right hand they stir the clay gently so that their fingers don’t touch the surface of the sugar.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 83-84).

Dussen mentions that, depending on the case, two to three layers of clay were applied to make the sugar purer and whiter.

“Once the sugar has been separated from the honey, it is taken out of the purification house, removed from the moulds and dried in the sun on stretched cloths, then the sugar still mixed with the honey is removed. This is what the Portuguese call ‘mascavar’, meaning that they remove the grey mask from the sugar, which is why they also call the grey sugar ‘mascavado’“. (DUSSEN, 1947, p. 95).

At the chewing counter there are two of the most experienced black women, who are called mothers of the counter, and with others they chew it and separate the inferior from the best, some black men who bring and make the moulds and take out the sugar loaves, and the kneader of the purifying clay, who is also another black man.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 79).

At the foot of the counter, which they call the “mascavar, the moulds are placed on a piece of leather, which is then shaken slowly with the mouths turned towards the leather, so that the loaves come out well, which are successively placed by a black man on a cover, which is stretched out on this counter, by the hand of a black woman (whom they call the “mother”), by a black woman (whom they call the Mother of the Counter), all the badly mashed and brown sugar they have on the bottom is removed with a machete, and this is called mascavar, and this sugar is then called mascavado.

Meanwhile, another one of their companions, who is one of the most practical, removes the wettest part of the mascavado with a small axe, which they call pé da forma or cabucho, and this is returned to the purification house in other forms until it has dried; and then other black women break up the lumps of mascavado on an awning, which also goes to the drying house with toletes.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 87).

The sugar loaves were formed on the aventador, a wooden shelf on the chewing counter. As described by Antonil, the brown sugar was scraped and separated from the white sugar, the latter being sent to a final drying stage. The white sugar was taken to an area called the drying counter, where it was exposed to the sun for a few hours.

According to Antonil’s description, some of the tools used at this stage were

• Diggers: Made of iron, used to dig up the sugar to put in the clay.
• Knife: Used to scrape off the brown sugar after the flushing stage.
• Iron Awl: Used to pierce the end of the sugar loaf to allow the molasses to drain out of the jars during the rinsing phase.
• Mallet: A type of hammer used to pound and compress the sugar in the jars.
• Hatchet: Used to scrape the brown sugar.
• Piece of leather: Piece of leather (usually cow) used to fit the sugar into the jars.
• Squeegee: Used to stir the sugar as it is laid out to dry on the awnings.
• Tolete: A type of hammer used to break sugar loaves. Because of its conical shape, it helps to divide the loaf into parts, called “faces”, from the top to the bottom.

Each “face” of the loaf had a different quality:

• tapered tip: Considered to be of lower quality, with more impurities and less pure sugar.
• Upper Faces: These were generally of higher quality, with greater purity and less molasses, and were more highly valued on the market.

4. Sugar drying process

At the drying counter, the same two mothers from the counter, accompanied by up to ten companions, took care of rolling out the awnings and breaking the large, chips and lumps of sugar into smaller pieces. Once removed from the moulds, the sugar was placed on pilheiras (wooden platforms) to dry. Some of the sugar was dried on the piles, while some was spread directly on the awnings and exposed to the sun. This practice was also common in the drying of coffee and cocoa.

The slaves scattered the sugar over the awnings and used squeegees to turn it over to ensure even drying. Each farmer was responsible for taking his tents and slaves to dry his share of the produce. The engenho master often met with tenants or ploughmen to supervise the sugar drying in the sun. The awnings were arranged in rows to indicate the production of the “farm party” and the tasks”.

5. Recipe for purging sugar

Barléu describes an alternative technique for purging sugar and making it whiter by using additional agents during the boiling process:

“Thus a lye of quicklime and egg whites is poured into the most impure sugar, and by stirring without ceasing the juice is darkened and purified of impurities. If it boils and threatens to overflow, this is prevented by adding a little butter.

Then, when all the lye has been absorbed, strain it through a coarse cloth or burlap to catch any faeces that may remain, and let it boil again until the lye is used up. Then they turn it over, as if reborn, in the moulds and cover the faces of the moulds with purer clay. When the clay dries to a crust, another is applied a few times for the same purpose as before, and a thicker and more impure honey flows out again.” (BARLÉU, 1940, pp. 74-75).

6. Weighing and packing the sugar.

After this stage, while it was still drying, parts of the sugar were put on a scale to be weighed so that the sugar, the mill owner, the farmer and the cashier could quantify the parts. Antonil [1711] tells us about some of the instruments used at this stage of weighing and storing sugar in boxes:

In weighing, scales, weights of two arrobas and other smaller ones, such as tare, weights; shovels and panacûs. In the Caixaria, pestles, squeegees, baking bread, which some call moleque de, assentar and others juiz, hoes, augers, hammers and nails.

The goat’s foot is used to remove nails from the boxes, and the gastalho is used to join the split or open boards together by placing two wedges between the sides of the board and the teeth, the gourds of the gastalho, which cling to the top and go down the sides, and the iron marks with which the quality of the sugar is marked, and the number of arrobas, and the officer of the engenho.” (p. 80).

After being weighed, the sugar was loaded with shovels into boxes lined with clay and banana leaves placed on top. If farmers were involved in the process, they would take their carts and slaves to collect their sugar after it had been weighed by the clerk. As well as white sugar being weighed and divided, brown sugar also went through this process. And in the middle of this division there was also a third part, the church tithe, where a special official called the tithe contractor would collect the 10 per cent of production from both the farm party and the tasks.

Antonil [1711] points out that when the sugar was placed in the boxes, something called the box face, that is, the sugar ready for sale, the sugar was not beaten to compact it in the boxes, as this could be used as a decoy, where low quality sugar could be placed in the bottom of the box and covered with good sugar, but the gross weight of the “box face” would be bad sugar.

After the boxes had been filled, a stick, called a “pau de assentar” or “moleque de assentar” as Antonil has already mentioned, was used to pound the sugar so that it would fit properly into the box and the lid could be nailed on. All the lids were closed with nails.

After the boxes were closed, they were labelled with the type of sugar, because as we have heard, in addition to white and brown sugar, there were other variations called “caras” (I’ll come back to this later). Antonil has left us some details about this:

• Male white sugar – a B was marked on the box.
• Beaten white sugar – two BBs have been marked on the box.
• Brown sugar, male – one M was marked on the box.
• Beaten brown sugar – the box was marked MB.

In addition to these marks identifying the type of sugar, there were three more marks engraved with a hot iron or in ink.

• Arrobas mark: engraved on the lid with a hot iron, it indicated the weight of the box.
• Mill mark: This was engraved with a hot iron and placed in the lower right-hand corner of the lid. It indicated the mill where the sugar was made. In the case of a religious or trade organisation, the seal or initials of that order or organisation were used.
• Lord’s or merchant’s mark: It could be hot-ironed or painted. It was marked in the centre of the lid if it was hot-ironed, and on the side of the box if it was painted, where the name of the owner or buyer was written.

Once all the boxes had been marked, they were taken to the harbour. The royal sugar mills had drivers available to transport the crates by barge, but generally ox carts were used to transport these crates, which weighed up to six arrobas, or 150 pounds, or 90 kilos.

However, Amaral [1958] reports that throughout the colonial history there were variations in the weight of sugar crates, with crates weighing from six to fifty arrobas. Mello [2012] says that in the first half of the 17th century the average weight of sugar boxes was between 30 and 35 arrobas (equivalent to 450 to 525 kilograms).

7. Wage labourers in sugar production

Although slaves performed various activities, there were certain jobs that were performed by free people. Some of these have already been mentioned, but I will concentrate on those specifically related to sugar production:

• Feitor-mor: was in charge of managing the engenho. He was responsible for overseeing all activities in the mill, from cutting the cane to loading the sugar. He checked the stock, making sure that all the slaves were doing their jobs properly, and reassigning them to other activities if necessary. If a slave fell ill, the overseer would send him for treatment and replace him with another slave. He also had to report everything that happened on the plantation to the master. The other overseers were subordinate to him. Antonil (1711) mentions that the feitor-mor had a salary of sixty thousand réis a year, but it is important to remember that this figure refers to the beginning of the 18th century and may not reflect the same amount over time.
• Mill Foreman: was responsible for overseeing the harvest, the transport of the cane and its milling. While the cane was being crushed, he had to make sure that the slaves didn’t get hurt, and he had to control the process so that there wasn’t too much sap, which could spoil while waiting for it to boil. Antonil (1711) states that the mill foreman’s salary ranged from forty to fifty thousand réis a year, again a figure from the early 18th century.
• Feitor or foreman: responsible for watching over and punishing the slaves, protecting the plantation and cane fields, and keeping the slaves under control, preventing fights, runaways or idleness.
• Sugar Master: Tasked with checking the quality of the soil and the location for the plantingsugar cane, he had to be able to tell where the best and worst quality cane was growing. In the boiler house he was responsible for keeping all the workers working properly and checking the quality of the product, as sometimes the juice had to be boiled longer or strained again. In the purification house he also assessed the work of the slaves and employees in this sector. In large sugar mills, Antonil (1711) mentions that the sugar master’s salary was around 130,000 réis a year, but could vary around 100,000 réis.
• Banqueiro or soto-mestre: The sugar master’s assistant, the banqueiro replaced the master in his absence and kept control of sugar production in the boiler house. He was assisted by the ajuda-banqueiro or soto-banqueiro. The banker’s salary varied between 30 and 40 thousand réis a year.
• Banker’s helper or soto-banqueiro: The banker’s helper had great responsibility in the production process and had to be constantly vigilant to avoid delays, loss of raw materials and accidents. Antonil noted that these positions were not necessarily held by free people; they could be held by slaves or mestizos, who, even if they had a white parent, sometimes did not receive a salary but rather a reward. They were also responsible for supervising the dispatch of sugar loaves to the Purification House.
• Boilermaker and Potter: They worked in the boilers and pots, controlling the boiling temperature and the process of purifying the juice. They were responsible for checking the “point”, the exact temperature at which the juice should boil.
• Cleaner: worked on cleaning the sugar in the cleaner house, checking the cleaning process and the quality of the clay used. He helped organise the loaves on the scaffolding, kept the room clean and ordered the collection of the molasses in the jars for storage or reuse. According to Antonil, the purgador’s salary varied according to the amount of production; for example, if he produced 4,000 loaves in a batch, he would receive 50,000 réis annually, but smaller amounts would be proportional to production.
• Caixeiro de engenho (sugar mill clerk): responsible for weighing the sugar before it was packaged and marked, he separated and accounted for the production of the mill owner and the farmers, passing the tithe to the Church. He also supervised the loading of the sugar into the crates, helped with the transport to the port and checked that the product had been shipped. The coffin maker’s salary ranged from 30 to 50 thousand réis a year, depending on the size and production of the sugar mill.
• Caixeiro da cidade (City Clerk): differed from the clerk of the engenho in that he acted more as a accountant, contractor, attorney and custodian, taking care of the Engenho’s finances, negotiations, contracts, ships and buyers. He received an annual salary of about 40 to 50 thousand réis.

7. Types of sugar

It has already been mentioned that there were different types of sugar, because when the “faces” of the sugar loaf were divided, each “face” had a different quality. Brown sugar also had its own types.

There are different nomenclatures for this type of sugar, but here I will explain the terms used by the Portuguese, as the Spanish, Italians, Dutch, French, English, etc. use other terminologies.

1. White sugar

Although similar to the sugar we normally use today, in the Modern Age there were some differences. Antonil [1711] says that white sugar was classified according to its quality:

• Fine: it was the whitest, densest and heaviest, coming from the first “face” of the sugar loaf. It was considered the best quality.
• Round: less closed and heavier, it usually came from the second “face” and was also considered the second quality.
• Low: It had a brownish colour and came from the third “face”. Despite its colour, it was still considered to be of relatively low quality.
• Whipped white: This was made from the molasses drained during the purging phase, where it was reboiled and whipped. Antonil says that it sometimes became white and very full-bodied, hence the name “beaten white”.

White sugars of the fine, round and low types were called macho sugar because they were well cleaned, pure and of excellent quality.

2. Brown sugar

It was also called brown sugar, pés and cabucho. It was considered to be of lower quality than white sugar. Brown sugar, as we have seen, is brownish in colour, contains a greater amount of honey, is not well pureed or refined. It was used to prepare food and even to make rapadura, garapa, cachaça, rum, etc.

• Macho: made from the remains of macho sugar. When the sugar was removed from the mould, the crust was scraped off, separating it from the white sugar, and this crust was brown sugar.
• Beaten: Made from the remains of beaten white sugar.
• Honey: Brown sugar made from Purga honey. It was also used to make mascavo batido or garapa and cachaça.
• Remel: The result of the extraction of honey from the white shake. If it was beaten, it could be made into beaten mascavo and was also used to make garapa and cachaça.

3. Sugar scum

This was made from the foams produced during the boiling phase of the juice. It had a dark colour and was used to make garapa as well as being fed to slaves and animals.

• Neta: Made from the first foam.
• Rescuma: made from the second foam.
• Nata: made from the third foam. It was beaten and crystallised.

4. Sugar by region

Gaspar Barléu, writing in the 17th century, pointed out that sugar had different names depending on where it came from. Here we have a different kind of nomenclature:

• Madeira: from the Island of Madeira.
• Canary Islands: from the Canary Islands, an archipelago belonging to the Spanish Kingdom.
• Meli: a small island off the west coast of India, under Portuguese control.
• São Tomé: from the Island of São Tomé, a Portuguese possession in Africa. Barléu tells us that this sugar was of low quality and was used to make syrups, preserves, medicines, etc.
• Antilles: from the Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. In this case it was produced by the Spanish, Dutch or French, depending on which island it came from.
• Azores: from the Azores.
• Cape Verde: from Cape Verde.

There were other places, but I’ll mention the main ones. However, you won’t find the nomenclature Brazilian sugar or Brazil in the books I used for this text.

5. Other types of sugar

• Mixed Sugar: this was made from the mixture of different sugars that were improperly transported in boxes.
• Pan sugar: The syrup that leaked out during the cooking process was collected in pans and not cleaned. It was of poor quality and dark in colour. It got its name because it was sold in pots.
• Candi or Cande sugar: refined and crystallised white sugar used to sweeten drinks, food and to prepare medicines.

Here I have presented some types of sugar and their nomenclatures used between the 15th and 18th centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries we see new nomenclatures, but as the focus here is on sugar production in Brazil’s colonial period, I’ll stick to these examples.

8. Definition of sugar cane juice, garapa, rapadura and cachaça

1. Sugarcane juice

• Definition: Sugarcane juice is the raw material used to make sugar and other derivatives and can be consumed directly.
• Consumption: Traditionally, the juice is extracted by cutting the cane and is readily available in cafeterias in Brazil and other Latin American and Asian countries. It is rich in sucrose and has a nutritional profile that includes vitamins and minerals.

2. Garapa

• Definition: A regional term that in some parts of Brazil refers to sugar cane juice, but historically referred to a sweet, inferior drink made from the foams of the sugar-making process.
• Historical use: Consumed by slaves and low-income populations, garapa was mixed with water and sometimes cashew leaves, making it an energising drink, often used at parties.

3. Rapadura

• Definition: A sweet made from sugar cane molasses, with a flavour similar to brown sugar and rich in minerals such as iron and calcium.
• Origin: It is believed that rapadura was invented in the 16th century and became popular in the northeast of Brazil as an energising and long-lasting food.
• Varieties: Today there are many versions of rapadura, including different flavours such as milk and chocolate, increasing its acceptance and consumption.

4. Cachaça

• Definition: Cachaça is a brandy made from the fermentation of sugar cane juice and is considered Brazil’s national drink.
• Origin of name: The term “cachaça” may be derived from “cachaço”, referring to an inferior drink, or from “cachaza”, an inferior wine consumed in the Iberian Peninsula.
• Production: Initially made from foams and molasses, the quality of cachaça improved with the introduction of distillation techniques in the 16th century, leading to its popularisation among all social classes.
• Historical Impact: Cachaça began to be used as a currency, especially in the slave trade between the Portuguese and some African populations.

Final thoughts

Sugarcane juice and its derivatives not only play an important role in the Brazilian economy, but are also an integral part of the country’s food and social culture.

Products such as garapa and rapadura represent a link between agricultural production and everyday life, while cachaça stands out as a symbol of national identity and a reference in beverage culture.

Understanding these products provides a broader view of the cultural and historical practices surrounding sugar cane in Brazil.

9. Origin of rum

Rum originated in the Caribbean Islands around the 16th century. The exact location is still debated, with some suggestions including Barbados, Cuba, Jamaica, among others. Initially, rum was discarded or fed to animals or slaves. Once its potential as an alcoholic beverage was discovered, investment in its development began.

The oldest words for the drink come from the English and French languages. From English comes the expression“kill-devil“, because at that time rum was presented by some as a kind of medicine, supposedly capable of driving out evil spirits.

This is an interesting fact, because if the reader remembers that sugar itself was once used as a medicine, this aspect is not at all strange. The French called it “rumbullion“. Other terms were guildive and tafia. The word “rum” became more common after the middle of the 17th century, when the drink became popular. The first official mention dates back to a Jamaican document from 1661, issued by the then governor of the island.

Like cachaça, rum was used as a barter currency to trade for slaves in Africa, and even to trade with the Amerindians, exchanging rum for food, animal skins, wood, etc.

As well as being a popular drink and reputedly a medicine, rum became a valuable currency in the 17th and early 18th centuries, to the point where it was smuggled. Pirates became famous for smuggling it, hence the association of pirates with the drink.

Rum was originally made from the fermentation of sugar cane juice, which was distilled after fermentation, giving it its high alcohol content and transparent colour. Later a technique was developed to make rum from molasses. Pure rum is transparent or light yellowish or whitish in colour.

The yellow, caramel and brown colours are due to the ageing of the drink or the addition of colouring agents. Today, there are several types of rum, and it is used as a base to make some types of drinks, and there is even rum syrup, which is used to make cakes and sweets.

Important notes

1. Drinks made from sugar cane juice or molasses did not appear until the Modern Era, although there are reports of some types of drink being made in India and China using sugar cane as the base.
2. In Brazil, cachaça is the base ingredient for the famous drink “caipirinha”.
3. Gaspar Barléus briefly mentions in his book that the Romans learned about sugar cane during their travels to the Middle East and mentioned its medicinal use, although they were not interested in cultivating it.
4. At the beginning of the 18th century, cachaça and rum were prohibited in some countries and colonies because they outstripped the production of wine in the metropolises. However, due to smuggling, the ban was lifted.
5. Another element that can be made from sugar cane is ethyl alcohol or ethanol, which is mainly used in the car industry as a fuel.
6. In Brazil, sugar mills lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, when they were replaced by mills. Today, however, you can still find modern mills linked to the production of sugar, cachaça and rapadura.
7. In 1660, Brazil saw the Cachaça Revolt, in which mill owners protested against abusive increases in taxes on the drink.

10. National Sugar and Alcohol Museum

A significant part of the history of sugar cane sugar processing, still one of the pillars of Brazilian agriculture, can be seen and learned in Pontal, in the Ribeirão Preto region.

The first phase of the National Sugar and Alcohol Museum, run by the Biagi family’s Engenho Central Institute, opened to the public in December and is already attracting visitors.

The collection is displayed in the Engenho Central, built in 1906, a year before the municipality was emancipated.

The museum collection includes machinery produced in Europe between 1876 and 1888, such as seed drills, feed pumps, vats for processing and purifying sugar, containers for transporting brandy, stamps for identifying sugar sacks and the clock that stood in the mill tower.

The Engenho Central belonged to the farmer Francisco Schmidt, the Coffee King, who produced sugar for export to the German company Theodor Wille, based in Hamburg. Before they belonged to the mill, they belonged to another farmer, Henrique Dumont, father of the aviator Santos Dumont.

The Biagi family bought the farm in the 1960s and the mill continued to produce until 1974.

When Maurílio Biagi died, his son, Luiz Biagi, decided to keep the mill and created the Institute to give shape to the museum.

The installation was supported by cultural incentive laws.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm and entrance is free.

History of the emergence of the sugar mill in colonial Brazil – The origin of the sugar cane and the history of sugar mills in colonial Brazil.