The Bitter Cauldron
Boiling Down Sugar: The Iron Heart of Barbados' Sugar Industry In 18th-century Barbados, sugar production counted on cast-iron syrup kettles, a technique later on embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was crushed utilizing wind and animal-powered mills. The extracted juice was warmed, clarified, and vaporized in a series of cast-iron kettles of decreasing size to make crystallized sugar. The Sweet Harvest: Barbados Sugar Economy. Barbados, typically called the "Gem of the Caribbean," owes much of its historic prominence to one commodity: sugar. This golden crop changed the island from a small colonial outpost into a powerhouse of the international economy throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet, the sweet success of sugar was built on a foundation of oppressed labour, a reality that casts a shadow over its legacy. The Boiling Process: A Grueling Task Sugar production in the days of colonial slavery was a perilous process. After collecting and crushing the sugarc...