Crystallization!
Six stainless steel evaporation vats are the next step for the sucrose at "Barra Grande" mill. Once again, they have the recipe, but cooking must be supervised by the workers. Each vat has inspection windows built into the sides to view the sucrose as more and more water is extracted.
Crystallization takes place by evaporating the last portion of water under very tight controls. In a vacuum, pulverized sugar is fed into the pan to seed the process (much like seeding a cloud to make it rain), as the water evaporates, crystals begin to form. The mixture leaves the vacuum as a thick crystal mass and is sent to a centrifuge (see large tubes going to centrifuges below the vats).
Next our guide allows us to sample the batch!