Umfolozi Sugar Mill (USM) has a very meticulous production process which yields its famous raw sugar.
The first dry, raw sugar crystals producessed in the processing of the sugarcane are the Umfolozi Sugar Mill light brown sugar. This sugar is natural, unrefined and retains a lot of the original flavour, nutrients and goodness of sugarcane.
The first step in the production process occurs in the cane handling yard where cane is delivered in mesh bins to the Mill from the cane fields. The cane is weighed while still in the mesh bins before it's tipped into cane carriers where it’s shredded. From this, a process of diffusion takes place in which sugar is extracted from the cane that has been shredded.
The sugar is then boiled in a boiler station where it’s separated into juice from sugar cane and bagasse, which is pulpy residue left after the extraction of juice from sugar cane. The bagasse is kept in storage while the sugar juice is analysed in a laboratory for sugar content and then heated and limed.
The juice is then placed through a clarifier which removes dirt from the juice. The mud settles to the bottom of the clarifier and is eventually extracted and returned to the cane fields as a fertiliser.
The remaining clear juice undergoes a process of evaporation in which water is removed from the juice, causing a syrup to form. Sugar crystals are grown from the syrup and the sugar is separated from molasses by spinning. The molasses is used to make ethanol and the dry raw sugar is packaged at USM warehouse and then dispatched.
Once the manufacturing process has been completed Sunshine Sugar, the marketing and sales brand of Umfolozi Sugar, will begin the process of delivering the affordable, quality brown sugar USM has produced.
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