Fresh Sugar Cane

I've been in Washington DC for the past several days now, visiting my brother and some friends I made in Mexico, who are from here, as well. Last night a few of us went out to my brother's favorite bar and steak house, the Carlyle. After eating crab and shrimp appetizers we were each served large plates of our meat of choice and sides of veggies. I had a large seared ahi tuna salad that was to die for. For dessert, everyone ordered and shared a vanilla cookie bread pudding that released a river of caramel from the center when cut into. I patiently passed the dish back and forth and noticed how perfectly the edges of the pudding were cooked, watching the pretty swirls of raspberry and vanilla cream disappear from underneath the bread pudding. It looked like the "bread" was made with crushed vanilla cookies. It looked so good and came a la mode. I could see the ground vanilla beans in the ice cream and it almost sent me over the edge. Almost around the time they had finished off the dessert, I noticed a couple of sticks sitting in a glass of water just across the bar from where we were perched. The sticks were fibrous and cream colored, with hard-looking green backs. Our friend had one in her mixed drink and we realized it was sugar cane! As soon as I had that realization, I snatched the cane out of her drink and began sucking on the top portion it, where her drink hadn't touched. It was incredible. I couldn't help but chew the fibers and suck out as much of the plant's juices as I possibly could. It was so sweet and tasted just like sugar in my mouth! But of course the sugar cane is far different from it's product, sugar. It has many fibers, is very chewy, and eventually you are just chewing on the stick after getting out all of the sweetness from its pulp. As we were leaving the Carlyle, I was handed another fresh stick of sugar cane which I have waiting for me in my brother's refrigerator. What an excellent treat after passing up on margaritas, mixed drinks, and dessert!

I recommend trying it. It was a refreshing version of sweetness that was entirely unprocessed. I am going to look for it back home at a couple of large asian markets. Let me know if you find a good source to purchase this from..