The secret of sugar cane juice (diariosur.es)

Nuestra Señora del Carmen Mill is located in the Palace of the earls of Frigiliana, a building built by the Manrique de Lara family at the end of the 16th century, and which in 1720 was adapted for the manufacture of cane syrup. It produces more than 520,000 kilos of sugar cane honey per year. Until 1928 it was known as the San Raimundo mill. As of that year and after it was acquired by the De la Torre family, it was renamed Ingenio Nuestra Señora del Carmen. The factory underwent an important modernization in 1962. Precisely, the machines that are preserved in the mill are from that year. They were designed by Sistema Díaz De la Torre and manufactured by the Díaz workshops, a foundry in Vélez-Málaga, according to the director of the factory Francisco López, who ensures that the process of making cane syrup has remained the same since 1720. «The deforestation caused by the sugar industry in the province led to the incorporation of vacuum concentrators into sugar mills, which allowed the juice to be boiled with less energy expenditure. Firewood was used to cook the sugarcane juice,” according to López.