sugarcane

/ˈʃʊgərkeɪn/

/ˈʃʊgəkeɪn/

Other forms: sugarcanes

Sugarcane is a tall, grassy plant that's used to make sugar. The majority of sugarcane is grown in Brazil.

Most of the world's sugar is produced from sugarcane — and in recent years, that's meant a total of about 1.8 billion tons of harvested sugarcane annually. Special factories process the cut cane, extracting sugar crystals from inside its stalks, then evaporating moisture from the crystals to create fine, white table sugar. Other sugar products come from sugarcane as well, including molasses and cane syrup.

Definitions of sugarcane

1. noun

   tall tropical southeast Asian grass having stout fibrous jointed stalks; sap is a chief source of sugar
   synonyms: Saccharum officinarum, sugar cane

   types:

   noble cane

   sugarcanes representing the highest development of the species; characterized by large juicy stalks with soft rinds and high sugar content

   type of:

   graminaceous plant, gramineous plant

   cosmopolitan herbaceous or woody plants with hollow jointed stems and long narrow leaves
2. noun

   juicy canes whose sap is a source of molasses and commercial sugar; fresh canes are sometimes chewed for the juice
   synonyms: sugar cane

   type of:

   cane

   a strong slender often flexible stem as of bamboos, reeds, rattans, or sugar cane