Raising a Glass to the Story of Sugar

Reaching ten feet skyward from Mississippi-and-Atchafalaya-nourished alluvial soils, swaying in the slight afternoon breeze and stolidly bearing its precious nectar—a proud stalk of Louisiana sugarcane holds more than the promise of pecan pies and the daily ritual of morning coffee sweetening. No, this storied stalk also knows a remarkable past and indelible influence on its adopted subtropical home. 

For our “Sugar Rush” Supper Club this March, Country Roads and friends will gather at the iconic Cottonseed Oil Mill in New Roads—where mountains of raw Alma Plantation sugar are stored. Surrounded by sugar, sipping on sugar (courtesy of Three Roll Estate’s creative cocktails, made from Alma sugar), and supping on four sugar-inspired, but not necessarily sweet, courses specially crafted by Chef Jeremy Langlois of Houmas House and Gardens, guests might feel slightly at sea if someone didn’t explain just why these million-pound mountains are so crucial to Louisiana history. Enter the curatorial brilliance of West Baton Rouge Museum Director Angelique Bergeron.

Though Bergeron won’t be able to bring the museum’s signature 1904 sugar mill model along, she will present an overview of sugar’s story in South Louisiana—a story that begins in 1751 when Jesuit priests planted a few stalks on Baronne Street in New Orleans. Today, over two hundred and fifty years later, in twenty-two of its sixty-four parishes, Louisiana produces approximately 13 million tons of cane annually, generating around $3 billion dollars each year. 

[Read this: A trip across the bridge for burgers, biscuits, and blues history.]

“It’s such a big part of our economy,” said Bergeron. “It employs around 20,000 people throughout the year and has really shaped so much of South Louisiana’s culture—it’s something we talk a lot about at the West Baton Rouge Museum, and something people should learn more about.”  

In her pop-up exhibit at the Cottonseed Oil Mill, Bergeron will place a particular focus on the evolution of agricultural practices—highlighting key Louisianans whose innovations had major impacts on the industry. 

“There was a free man of color in the 1830s who figured out how to better produce sugar in the factory using steam kettles, another who had a third grade education—but was able to develop one of the first sugarcane planters, another who invented a machine to harvest the cane,” said Bergeron. “Many of these improvements and modifications—groundbreaking concepts at the time—are still used in the industry today.” 

Bergeron noted that in between sugar’s legacy of economic influence and engineering exploits is a trail of deep cultural markers, particularly for African Americans, whose historical relationship with the sugar fields runs dark and deep from centuries of exploitation. 

She pointed to the juke joints that once filled the Delta with the first strains of America’s Blues—“So much of that music comes from field hollers and calls. It was back breaking work. And the juke joints existed so that, after long days in the sugar fields, people could come together and let loose.” 

And thus we gather this March—standing beside such a proverbial and literal mountain of our state’s history: celebrating its evolution, reckoning with its troubled past, and in sweeter spoonfuls, tasting its lasting impact. It’s been a long day, let’s come together and let loose. 

—Jordan LaHaye 

On a Roll:

We'll send Alma lovin' to you...

One of just eleven sugar mills still operating in Louisiana—and the only in Pointe Coupee Parish—Alma Plantation has grown and refined sugar since 1844. The family-owned business branched into booze in 2017, launching Three Roll Estate (then called Cane Land Distilling) with a line of rums—including the superb rhum agricole, made with fresh-pressed cane juice—and a vodka to boot.

[Read this: The origin story of Alma Plantation's Cane Land Distilling (now Three Rolls Estate)]

As the Supper Club credo demands guests “raise a glass,” we couldn’t have dinner without a batch of creative cocktails from Three Roll. And for those who don’t drink, or won’t during Lent, rumor has it that Alma will be rolling out its own cane juice soon. To which we say—Suh-weet!

—Lucie Monk Carter