Assam: Molasses seized at two places in Hailakandi district

Hailakandi

Personnel of Excise department, Hailakandi on Tuesday seized jaggery (molasses) used for making illicit liquor at two different places in the Hailakandi district of Assam.

The personnel made raids at Aeinakhal Bazaar and Aeinakhal Laltila and seized 208 tins of jaggery (molasses) containing 4160 kgs.

One person named Alimuddin Choudhury has been arrested while another is absconding.

What is Molasses..?

Molasses syrup is separated from sugar crystals by means of centrifuging. Molasses is separated from the sugar crystals repeatedly during the manufacturing process, resulting in several different grades of molasses; that obtained from the first extraction contains more sugar, tastes sweeter, and is lighter in colour than molasses obtained at the second or third extractions. The third and final extraction yields blackstrap molasses, a heavy, viscous, dark-coloured product that has had all the sugar removed from it that can be separated practically by ordinary crystallization.

Use of Molasses

The lighter grades of molasses made from sugarcane are edible and are used in baking and candy-making and to make rum. Blackstrap and other low grades of cane molasses are used in mixed animal feed and in the industrial production of vinegar, citric acid, and other products. The molasses obtained from sugar beets has a very low sugar content and is generally inedible.

Before 1948 molasses was fermented to make industrial ethyl alcohol, which is now made principally from ethylene, thus decreasing the demand for molasses.

Blackstrap molasses from cane is composed of roughly 55 percent sucrose and other sugars, 20 percent water, 15 percent organic nonsugars, and 10 percent ash.