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Brown Sugar Factory (Sataya)

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  • Mill for crushing sugar cane (kansho)

    Old Okinawan villages had many small brown sugar shops where cattle or horses were employed to turn the sata-guruma, sugarcane mill, by pulling on a long attached arm. The juice was then boiled up to produce brown sugar. Exactly when it was introduced to Okinawa is uncertain, but during early times sugarcane seems to have been cultivated to be used merely as a sweetener. In 1623, Shinjo Gima, after studying advanced sugar manufacture in China, tried the method at home, using a wooden mill with two rollers. In 1831, the mill was first made of stone, and then from iron since 1882. In 1908, Okinawan sugar manufacturing was further improved with the establishment of a Western-style centrifugal sugar factory. Until recent times, however, the traditional sugarcane mills were used side by side with sugar factories and other small shops, making the product readily available.

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  • Sugarcane mill (sata-guruma)

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