Escalante Sugarcane Belt
Description
Sugarcane growing area north of Bacolod along the coast plain. In Escalante, a north-coast city where rice, cane and the Visayan Sea fishery meet. Muscovado is whole-cane sugar boiled down and dried with the molasses left in — brown, damp, faintly smoky, nothing like refined white. Producers here work in open pans at small scale. Buy it in blocks or loose by the kilo where it’s made; it costs more than white sugar and is worth the difference.
Tips
Fish landings, drying belts and cane country sit within the same municipality, so a short loop covers several links of the chain in one morning.
Stops
Northern Sugar & Seafood Corridor
How to get there
On the main highway route through this part of the island; Ceres buses and jeepneys serving the corridor pass through.
Best Times
Early morning — markets, landings and roadside stalls all run hardest before 8am.
