An age-old practice of rural Costa Ricans is harvesting sugar cane using a trapiche (sugar cane mill). An exciting activity many of our courses offer is the chance to make dulce (sugar candy) using this simple hand-crank mill. Here is how it happens:

• First sugar cane is harvested using a machete.
• After excess fibers are removed from the shoots, the stalks are beaten by hand using a wooden club in order to soften them.
• The sugar cane is run, shoot by shoot, through the trapiche in order to extract the maximum amount of cane juice. This is generally done twice.
• The stalk is run through the trapiche a third time. As this is done the stalk is twisted by the person feeding the cane into the machine to squeeze out every last bit of juice.
• The harvested juice drains into a large metal bowl and is later filtered using a  sifter.
• The juice is transferred into a cauldron where it is heated until it becomes thick. The sugar cane stalks that have dried are used to feed the fire beneath the cauldron.
• The syrupy mixture is placed into a wooden mould and let cool.
• Once hardened, the dulce is ready to be eaten, used for cooking or sold.