The Iron Kettles of Sugar

The Dark Side of Sugar

In 18th-century Barbados, cane sugar was made in cast-iron syrup kettles, an approach later embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was squashed utilizing wind and animal-powered mills. The drawn out juice was boiled, clarified, and vaporized in a series of pots of decreasing size to create crystallized sugar.

The Bitter Sweet Country: Barbados Sugar Economy. Barbados, often called the "Gem of the Caribbean," owes much of its historical prominence to one commodity: sugar. This golden crop transformed the island from a little colonial station into a powerhouse of the global economy throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet, the sweet success of sugar was built on a foundation of enslaved labour, a truth that casts a shadow over its legacy.





Boiling Sugar: A Grueling Job

Making sugar in the 17th and 18th centuries was  a perilous process. After harvesting and crushing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in huge cast iron kettles until it took shape as sugar. These pots, typically arranged in a series called a"" train"" were warmed by blazing fires that workers needed to stir constantly. The heat was suffocating, , and the work unrelenting. Enslaved workers sustained long hours, frequently standing near the inferno, risking burns and exhaustion. Splashes of the boiling liquid were not unusual and might trigger serious, even fatal, injuries.

A Life of Peril

The threats were constant for the enslaved employees tasked with working these kettles. They worked in sweltering heat, breathing in smoke and fumes from the boiling sugar and burning fuel. The work demanded extreme effort and accuracy; a minute of negligence could lead to mishaps. Regardless of these obstacles, oppressed Africans brought impressive ability and ingenuity to the procedure, making sure the quality of the final product. This product fueled economies far beyond Barbados" coasts.


Today, the big cast iron boiling pots act as reminders of this painful past. Spread across gardens, museums, and historical sites in Barbados, they stand as quiet witnesses to the lives they touched. These antiques encourage us to review the human suffering behind the sweet taste that as soon as drove worldwide economies.


HISTORICAL RECORDS!


Boiling House Horror: The Dark Truth of Making Sugar Revealed in Historical Records

The boiling home was among the most hazardous put on a Caribbean sugar plantation. Abolitionist authors, including James Ramsay, recorded the stunning conditions enslaved employees sustained, from brutal heat to lethal accidents in open sugar barrels.


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The Iron Kettles of Sugar