Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

 In South America, particularly in the north (Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and so on), a crusher is used, which may be powered by diesel motors to extract the juice from the sugar cane. The sugar boiler uses strips of bark of a tropical plant, a species of Triumjetta, made into a sort of mop, to swirl the boiling juice so that the crud keeps moving toward the centre , where he then picks it up with his long-handled strainer. The mop has the innate property of causing nonsugar materials to coagulate and, hence, is a clarifying agent. 
  

As the juice is boiled down, the boiler with a long handled dipper (Fig. 1) moves it to the next copper vat by pouring it through a strainer made of fibre such as is used in making burlap bags. Under this vat there is also a fireplace fed with bagasse (or the crushed cane fibres) . The skimming process continues, and the juice again, in a more concentrated form, is moved to the next open copper vat. As the juice approaches the point of crystallization , the sugar boiler keeps testing it just as a good candymaker tests the product. Much skill is required at this point. If the juice is taken out too soon, it will not crystallize; if too late, it will have scorched. At just the right point, the nearly dry but coarse crystals of sucrose are moulded into panela loaves (Figs. 2 and Fig 3) and are ready for market.