Sugar is something most of us use nearly every day, and thanks to its many uses, it is a household staple. It’s a core ingredient in baking, it sweetens up a cup of coffee and can even exfoliate your skin in a body scrub.
Sunshine Sugar in NSW is the only 100% Australian grown, made and owned raw and refined manufacturer and we have the oldest continuously operating sugar mill in the country. So, we know a thing or two about how to make the very best sugar.
When the harvested sugarcane arrives at the mill, trucks tip the billets into a massive shredding machine that breaks apart the cane. Rollers squeeze out the sugar juice which is made into raw sugar through a set of steps including clarification, evaporation, crystallisation and separation by centrifuge and drying. At this point, the raw sugar produced at our Broadwater and Harwood sugar mills still has lots of impurities, so it’s stored in a shed and sent to the sugar refinery to be filtered when needed.
Our Condong sugar mill can make what we call Direct Consumption or DC raw sugar which is a food-grade raw sugar. It is also able to produce a wholesome and natural Low GI raw sugar on site.
Our refinery at Harwood operates all year round and produces refined sugar under the name ‘Sunshine Sugar.’ The refining process is effectively a purification stage that removes any final impurities from the raw sugar. White granulated sugar is made by removing all of the molasses whilst the food-grade raw sugar retains some of the molasses, which gives it its caramel colour and aroma.
Sugar made from sugarcane is 100% natural, plant-based product. Used in cooking, sugars work in many ways including to help preserve jams, cereals, cakes, candies, cookies and drinks. Sugars also help produce the tender, moist texture of cakes and the golden-brown finish of many biscuits.