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84 chapter x y Cleaning and Purifying the Caldo from the Cane in the Cauldrons and the Filtering Kettle until It Reaches the Boiling Pans The juice from the sugarcane makes its way from the hoisting kettle in a stream into the furnace house. The first place it goes is to a cauldron, the meio cauldron. In it, the caldo begins to boil and throw off the impurities that come with it from the mill. The fire at this point is doing its work, and the caldo yields its first skimming, called cachaça.26 Because this is so full of little pieces, it goes away from the furnace house, over the edges of the cauldrons, which have lots of bricks around them, into a pipe buried in the ground. It is fed through a wooden trough within the brick edging around the cauldron. The caldo moves through this pipe to a large wooden trough to feed the animals. Goats, sheep, and pigs eat it, and in some places, even the oxen lick it. Everything that is sweet is delicious, even when it is filled with bits and pieces. In order that the fire does not stir up the froth more than necessary, and to allow the caldo to be skimmed, which is good, from time to time the cauldron workers add some water using a great ladle. In this way, the great force of heat from boiling is reduced and the impure caldo becomes clean. The first skimming having left on its own, those at the cauldrons begin to skim the caldo using giant iron skimmers and “help” it. Adding from time to time a great ladle of water and ash is called “helping” the caldo. These are kept nearby; the water is in the tubs, and the leaching water is in the molds. The water cleanses the caldo, and the leaching water ensures the impurities at the bottom of the cauldron rise more quickly to the top and do not settle on the bottom. The leaching water also helps the sugar to condense and makes it stronger, mixing with the caldo in the way that salt blends with water. This second skimming 85 Cleaning and Purifying the Caldo is retained and channeled by another pipe from the same trough in the brick edging around the cauldron to a kettle below, removed from the fire. This is called the skimming kettle. From here, it is returned to the same cauldron to be refined by a negra woman (known as the cal­ calha)27 using a vessel and kettle. They call this “passing again.” It moves through a wooden pipe positioned on a brace at the same height as the cauldrons. They call this a “violin,” since it has the shape of one. And then the caldo falls into the cauldron. When the caldo appears purified (which can be determined by the foam, by the large and small bubbles that arise, each time smaller and brighter) with the use of a great ladle (which is a copper concave receptacle with a wooden handle twelve or fifteen palmas long), the liquid is poured into the second cauldron. This is the melar cauldron, and it is here that the purification process is completed , with the same applications of water and leaching water, until the caldo is completely pure. The caldo is normally refined in the meio cauldron for about half an hour. After it is half-refined, it goes to the melar cauldron where it remains for an hour or hour and a quarter, until the skimming is complete. The cauldrons are never completely emptied of the caldo because that would damage them. Two or three palmas of liquid are left in the cauldron, and the new caldo is poured on top. The skimmings from this second cauldron are ladled into the skimming kettle and from there to the first or second cauldron until the end of the tarefa. From these skimmings, the negros make their garapa,28 which is the drink they enjoy most and which they exchange with their equals for cassava flour, bananas, and beans. The garapa is stored in jugs until it loses its sweetness and turns sour, because that is when they say it is best for drinking. God willing, they will drink it in moderation and not until they get drunk. The next to last skimming from the last meladura, which is the last refining from the caldo, is called claros. Mixed with cold water, it...

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