affination

Affination is a food processing technique used in the sugar industry. It involves treating raw sugar crystals with a heavy syrup to remove the film of adhering molasses. This process is part of the larger sugar production, which begins with sugarcane or sugar beets. After harvesting, these plants are processed to extract juice, which is then concentrated into a syrup. Crystallization and centrifugation separate sugar crystals from molasses, yielding raw sugar. Affination is a step in refining this raw sugar to produce the pure white sugar commonly used. The term "affinage" also refers to the aging of cheese or the refining of metal, though these are distinct from food processing.123