Gimme some sugar
Sugar cane is everywhere in KZN, something I discover less than an hour after landing in Durban. Driving north towards Zululand, stray pieces of plant matter fly through the air, an occasional leaf fluttering across my windscreen. A couple of cars ahead I spot the culprit – a large truck whose open trailer carries something that looks a lot like dead branches. Suddenly these trucks are everywhere, carrying what turns out to be freshly harvested sugar cane up and down the N2 highway.
It is a time-sensitive task. Sugar cane is a seriously perishable product, its high sugar content causing it to start fermenting within minutes. This goes a long way to explaining why rum distilleries arenʼt found throughout the country like gin-makers or craft brewers. Surprisingly though, the province has only two distilleries specialising in rum.
