More than 1500 sugar cookies baked with SteviaCane were the hit of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) food expo in Chicago.

Talk about a high-profile taste test – the Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT) food expo. It’s where prototype products are sampled by thousands of food experts who turn out for the annual event.

More than 1,500 sugar cookies made with the new sweetener called “Steviacane™” – a product made from sugar and stevia – were served up there recently “raising some eyebrows and generating a lot of curiosity,” says Darrell L. Gerdes, manager of research and new product development for Imperial Sugar Company (ISC).

Sugar cookies served at Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) food expo were the receipt of Joetta Gerdes, mother of Darrell L. Gerdes, manager of research and new product development for Imperial.

With the introduction of Steviacane, Natural Sweet Ventures LLC  – a joint venture formed by Imperial Sugar and PureCircle this year – is tapping into consumers’ and food manufacturers’ desire for a natural sweetener that uses less sugar, but that doesn’t impact finished product flavor.

Representatives from both companies were there to see and hear firsthand reactions to the Steviacane  “sugar” cookies, which were based on a recipe by Gerdes’ mom, Joetta Gerdes.

“We saw a strong, positive reaction to the idea of having a sugar product that could help our customers lower sugar usage and calories in their existing products,” reports Gerdes, a Ph.D. with a taking-it-to-the-streets approach when it comes to engaging consumers.

Jordi Ferre, corporate vice president of sales and marketing for PureCircle USA, says those who tasted the cookies were pleasantly surprised. A common response was: “You don’t expect to have a great-tasting cookie after taking 50 percent of the sugar out.”

Steviacane is produced through a patented process in which cane sugar and high-purity stevia, a sweetener derived from the leaves of the Stevia plant, are combined into an easy-to-use granulated product.

According to Jason Hecker, vice president of global marketing for PureCircle Limited, stevia sweetener products are gaining momentum in the market as major multinational companies and big brands continue to drive up awareness.

“With increased interest in stevia-based products and a shift in the market to sugar, Steviacane comes along at the right time, combining the best of the two natural sweeteners,” says Hecker. “Steviacane will fill a real need, offering the taste of real sugar – but with fewer calories – using our proprietary formulation.”

Gerdes has been leading the development of the venture’s first product for the last six months. The process has required everything from an examination of stevia and sugar molecules, to running taste panels, to conducting a 72-hour commercial-scale test run of the product in the refinery.

“This is a significant step forward for the sweetener industry,” Gerdes believes. “This has been the most exciting and challenging product-development project I have been involved with in my 25-plus year food industry career. It was quite a treat to see the positive and supportive reactions of hundreds of food scientists at the food expo.”

Natural Sweet Ventures plans to do a limited-distribution test later this year that involves selling the packaged product in one of Imperial Sugar’s strategic retail partners.

Gerdes hints that conference attendees in various industries peripheral to food processing presented some unique opportunities going forward.

Ferre sums up his impressions, saying: “Widespread interest in using a natural sweetener like stevia with sugar to reduce calories continues to be very big. Steviacane offers a perfect solution.”

About 30 minutes into the film, the hapless heroine, June – played by Cameron Diaz – is fleeing from Tom Cruise, who plays a rogue spy named Roy. As Diaz is running for her life, she jumps on a bus that displays a Wholesome Sweeteners’ ad on the back.

Happenstance?

Not hardly, says Pauline McKee, vice president of marketing for the company, which specializes in Fair Trade Certified™ organic and natural sweeteners.

“I have worked with a company called Motion Picture Magic for approximately five years,” she says.
“We responded to a request from the film producers of ‘Knight and Day’ just over two years ago.”

McKee says the California-based company has been very successful in securing Wholesome Sweeteners’ product placements in feature films, such as “Bedtime Stories” with Adam Sandler, and on TV shows, including “Two and a Half Men” and “Entourage.”

“This has been a great partnership through which we introduce stars, cast and crew to our products and also place them on the set in appropriate scenes during shooting,” she says.

It’s all part of the big-picture marketing strategy for this joint venture between Imperial Sugar, one of the largest U.S. sugar companies, and Edward Billington & Son, one of the UK’s largest, privately owned companies with products and services in the food and agriculture sectors.
Adds McKee: “We are very excited that the Wholesome Sweeteners’ bus banner advertisement survived final editing and cut.”

It just goes to show. You can have more than one thing that’s naturally wholesome and good in a cloak-and-dagger plot line. Move over Cameron Diaz.

Dudley (Dutch) J Melancon, Jr., Packaging Superintendent at the Gramercy, La refinery, inspects the new Imperial Sugar railcars before loading with sugar.

For 14 years, Don Gilbert has dreamed of seeing Imperial Sugar Company (ISC) railcars painted a bright “Imperial blue” and sporting the company’s logo. His dream has finally true – along with some new features for customers, too.

Thirty new bulk railcars, manufactured by Trinity Rail Industries, are on their way to the Gramercy, La., and Port Wentworth, Ga., refineries, where they’ll be used for transporting refined sugar by rail to customers. Unlike in years past, this batch of railcars is a distinctive bright blue, not grey, and each has its own Imperial Sugar crown.

“The customer will see these cars arrive at their facility, and they’ll know exactly who it is,” says Gilbert, the company’s director of commodities management and logistics. “The cars are recognizable and memorable.”

Don Gilbert, director of commodities management and logistics for Imperial Sugar.

Beyond the blue finish, which was carefully matched to ISC’s logo, the railcars have features important to many customers receiving bulk products by rail.

For example, a “hatch-and-hatch” system on top of each railcar allows for two openings, one small and one large. When loading a railcar, Imperial can use the smaller opening, reducing the possibility of contamination.

Stainless steel gates on the bottom of the railcars, as well as food-grade lining inside of them, allow the transported sugar to quickly empty out. Those features make it easier for a customer, after receiving a car full of refined sugar, to open the gate and unload.
The number of railcars in Imperial Sugar’s fleet is now just under 600. As the company expands its fleet, Gilbert says, every new railcar will be built with customer-friendly features such as the hatch-and-hatch system, food-grade lining and stainless steel gate.

And, he hopes, they’ll be painted in that same distinctive blue.

Kathy Gonzalez has become Imperial's newest Certified Safety Professional® (CSP). This premier credential certifies they meet the highest national and international standards for health and safety in the workplace.

When it comes to ensuring worker safety, Kathy Gonzalez gets right to the point.

“If you boil it down, my role is to make sure that the way the people come into the plant is the way they leave,” says Gonzalez, environmental health and safety (EHS) manager at Imperial Sugar Company’s (ISC) refinery in Gramercy, La. There, she’s responsible for the welfare of co-workers on the job.

With her guardian mindset, she’s become the company’s newest Certified Safety Professional® (CSP). This premier credential for professionals like Gonzalez certifies they meet the highest national and international standards for health and safety in the workplace.

Meeting these exacting standards means working with managers, supervisors, machine operators, mechanics and others to make sure all equipment is running properly – without any safety concerns. Gonzalez also is an active participant in the Imperial Sugar EHS cross-site safety community, which works together to develop and implement safety policies, training and practices needed to make this happen.

“My biggest job is to identify potential hazards and mitigate the risks people take when interacting with machinery or other materials,” says Gonzalez, who’s worked for ISC for two years.

She likens her position as safety head to a conductor of an orchestra. In this case, “all they guys in the field are the ones who play the instruments. I provide and conduct the musical score.”

The CSP certification is recognized by safety and health organizations worldwide and is similar to an accountant having a CPA credential. Requirements for certification include an undergraduate degree, several years of professional safety experience and the passing of a two-part, nine-hour exam.

Gonzalez estimates she studied about 150 hours for both parts of the CSP exam. “It’s definitely put me on top of my game,” she says. “It’s provided a good refresher on processes and theories that can be applied to various aspects of my work.”

According to Gonzalez, safety awareness at the Gramercy refinery is strong. She credits success to everyone’s commitment and participation.

Gonzalez brings more than two decades of safety and health experience to Imperial Sugar, where she oversees the work of two staff members, a nurse, a professional firefighter, fire protection mechanics, security and dust mitigation cleaners.

Previously, she worked as an EHS manager for Remy International, a major manufacturer of hybrid motors, starters and alternators, as well as at a major printing company.

“One person does not make a safety department,” Gonzalez likes to say. “I have never worked at a place with employees as willing as Imperial’s to embrace safety. We’re a tight-knit team.”

Eric Terry, char house operator in Imperial Sugar Company’s Port Wentworth refinery, returned to work after being stationed in the Afghan city of Jalalabad with the U.S. Army.

Today, Eric Terry works as a char house operator in Imperial Sugar Company’s Port Wentworth refinery. This time last year, he was in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, serving in the U.S. Army as a gunner – one of the soldiers who rides on top of a tank or Humvee, manning a .50-caliber or M240B machine gun.

“I was proficient with the really big guns,” Terry says, “so they put me on that job.”

Riding in a Humvee made him a regular target for roadside bomb attacks, so he feels “fortunate to make it back.” In the same breath, though, he humbly points out that he was simply doing his job in Afghanistan – just like he’s doing his job here.

His military service began in 2005, when he joined the 48th Infantry Brigade of the Georgia National Guard. At the time, he felt he “wanted some direction and to be a part of something.” He entered boot camp for 18 weeks at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, which was every bit as rigorous as people say: “You pretty much train from 4 a.m. when you wake up, until two hours before you bed down. Every day, for 18 weeks.”

With his training complete, “you go back to the civilian world to do your job and take care of your family,” he explains. His involvement with the National Guard was scaled back to training once a month during the year, with a two-week training stint during the summer.

And then, his unit was called up for active duty.

Terry left Savannah in January 2009 to spend six months in training before being deployed to Jalalabad for 10 months. It meant leaving his wife and baby boy, Bryson, behind. “I missed his first steps, his first words –- everything,” he says.

Terry rides on top of a tank or Humvee, manning a .50-caliber or M240B machine gun, similar to this military photo of an Afghan patrol.

Deployment is tough on a family, but so is the transition when a soldier returns. When he first returned home in April 2010, he spent a lot of time with his son to recapture “that bond,” he says. For the months that Terry was gone, he and his wife had told Bryson that Daddy was at work.

Coming home meant returning to work for Imperial Sugar Company – where he had been employed for the two years before deploying. When Terry returned to Savannah, the company “put me where they needed me,” says Terry – the char house. “My job at Imperial is really important to me, because it helps me support people who were supporting me while I was in Afghanistan.”

He has nothing but positive words for his co-workers, who have told him how much they value his brave service in Afghanistan. And the experience of serving in the military has made him even more thankful for and aware of what he has.

“It helps me appreciate what I have back home more,” he says. “As a man, I think I’m a little more grown-up than I was before.”

Terry will be with the National Guard until next year. He knows there is a chance he’ll be called up for active duty again. For now, though, he isn’t thinking about it. He’s too busy adjusting to his new role in the char house and playing toy trains with Bryson.

Darrell Gerdes, manager of research and new product development for Imperial Sugar Company, inspects a sugar cookie made with SteviaCane.

Like a modern-day Columbo, Darrell Gerdes, manager of research and new product development for Imperial Sugar Company (ISC), spends much of his time troubleshooting, coming up with new ideas and examining the evidence until something “clicks.”

A case in point: Gerdes and an ISC team recently worked with a large commercial customer on a new sugar glaze for the company’s famed glazed doughnuts. The team had not yet gotten the viscosity of the glaze to perform the way they wanted.

“The glaze was giving us a 90 percent performance, but I’m a perfectionist scientist who expects 100 percent performance,” says Gerdes. “We were struggling to figure out why this particular product wasn’t working perfectly. We had changed the formulation, changed the application method and temperature – all sorts of things. It just wasn’t good enough.”

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head: “I thought about the gums in the product, and realized they needed a 24-hour time frame to do their stuff perfectly.” That’s when Gerdes decided to spend three days with the customer, running a test that involved making the glaze, letting it rest for a day, and then applying it to the doughnuts.

“It worked like a champ,” he says.

It’s this sort of scenario that casts Gerdes as a detective of sorts. He says, half-jokingly, “It’s like CSI, except with sugar and sweeteners.”

As a student at Texas A&M, Gerdes originally wanted to be a pediatrician, but soon found himself drawn to food science. After earning his Master’s degree and PhD in food science, he worked as a professor at universities in Texas, Louisiana and California, teaching students and running research centers that conducted research projects for food companies. Eventually, one of those clients lured him to the corporate world.

Gerdes discusses tests on SteviaCane with Imperial's analytical chemist William Kienzle.

After stints at Parrot-Ice and Riviana Foods, Gerdes landed at Imperial Sugar in June 2009. Arriving at the Sugar Land, Texas, headquarters, he recalled touring the site as a Boy Scout and later learning how to drive on Highway 90A, which runs in front of the corporate offices.

What he loves about his role at Imperial Sugar is “creating new stuff and solving problems.” A typical week involves everything from working on new products, to scouring the Internet to read up on the latest food industry trends, to answering questions from customers and consumers.

He says he has three big goals for the year:
One is to launch Steviacane™, a product made from sugar and stevia.

The second is to relaunch Baker’s Supreme with revamped packaging.

And, the third is to develop a tool for online market research, which will be a first foray for Imperial Sugar. “Called a ‘concept screener,’ the online survey will allow us to target consumers by demographic and region and say, ‘Here are our ideas for new products. What do you think?’”

By year-end, Gerdes expects to have targeted market research to help guide him, as well as new ISC products lining retail shelves. He says, “One-hundred-percent performance – that’s what success looks like to me.”

“We want to move beyond vendor to valued partner,” said Lucas, national sales director, industrial channel, at Imperial. “That means establishing deeper, multi-tier customer relationships from a marketing and R&D perspective.”
For Lucas, being a valued partner will require Imperial to position itself as a sweetener solutions company – one that not only provides sugar, but also works closely with its customers to develop innovative sweetener products.

Lucas said that when introducing a new product to customers, Imperial will take extra steps to help them determine how to best use and market the product and ensure its success.

Joe Lucas, national sales director, industrial channel, at Imperial Sugar.

“We will be working hand-in-hand with the Imperial product development team and our customers,” said Lucas. “The team will not only talk to our customers’ R&D people, but also to their marketing groups to discuss at length the features, benefits and applications of our sweeteners at a more technical level.”

Growing the company’s presence throughout North America and maximizing value creation from its joint ventures and alliances – an Imperial core business strategy – will be integral to Lucas’ consultative sales approach. Those joint ventures include Comercializadora Santos Imperial, a sugar producer based in Monterrey, Mexico, and Natural Sweet Ventures, which is developing Stevia-based sweetening products.

Sugar production in Mexico will play a bigger role when Imperial’s domestic production for industrial customers shifts solely to its Port Wentworth, Ga., refinery next year. Also, new stevia-based products will help establish a broader base for Imperial’s sweetening solutions.

Lucas pointed to a meeting with a major food manufacturer at the 2010 International Sweetener Colloquium to show how Imperial can use these ventures to the customer’s advantage.

There, he and Imperial CEO and President John Sheptor shared with the customer how stevia/cane sugar blended sweeteners could be used in its products to leverage the benefits of sugar as well as caloric reduction. They also discussed Imperial’s ability to supply sugar in Mexico, which is very important to this company because it has a large manufacturing operation in Monterrey.

“Prior to that meeting, we’d be looked at only as a supplier who shipped the customer sugar out of our two U.S. plants,” said Lucas. “By the time we were finished, they saw us as a sweetener solutions provider – not only in the U.S., but also in Mexico. In other words, we were no longer perceived as just a cane sugar provider.”

Discussing the challenges and opportunities ahead, Lucas said Imperial is very focused on service in anticipation of its move to a single, U.S. plant operation for industrial customers. This change will occur once Louisiana Sugar Refining – a joint venture in which Imperial is one-third owner – opens its large new plant in Gramercy, La.

Raw sugar at Imperial Sugar's Gramercy refinery.

Imperial plans to place a bulk transfer station in Monterrey as early as the fall to expedite the shipping of sugar across the border and help fill the gap. “We’re fully anticipating that our operations in Mexico and the increased capacity of our Port Wentworth refinery will fill the Southwest market with the industrial volume we have in Gramercy,” said Lucas. “We are not abandoning this market at all.”

According to Lucas, service is already improving and customers are highly impressed with the newly modernized Port Wentworth facility.

Recently, about 20 customers got a first-hand look at the rebuilt plant during an Imperial combustible dust seminar. One customer said: “For six years, I’ve been responsible for combustible dust and safety at our company’s facility. I came in thinking I knew everything and was prepared to be bored for two days. After the first five minutes of a presentation before the actual tour, I knew I was wrong.”

Lucas believes the seminar and tour positioned Imperial as a strong partner for its customers. He said customers walked away with a new appreciation for Imperial’s dedication to safety and operational excellence, as well as for its openness in sharing all it had learned from the explosion that occurred there in early 2008.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity in front of us. It’s all driving toward the idea that we’re not just a sugar company, we’re a sweetener solutions company,” said Lucas. “When customers think of sweeteners, we believe they’ll think of Imperial first.”

Before joining Imperial, Lucas worked for Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa, chocolate and confectionery products.

Pat Henneberry, senior vice president of commodities for Imperial Sugar Company.

Even with a lot of market changes worldwide, the outlook for raw sugar reflects “a relatively tight supply and demand,” says Pat Henneberry, senior vice president of commodities for Imperial Sugar Company.

Based on the USDA’s July report for World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), Henneberry says: “We’re viewing the market as relatively firm for the rest of this fiscal year, ending in September.

“And the beginning of the succeeding year should also be firm because quota supplies won’t become readily available until the new crops in Central America that start in November and December.”

WASDE is the monthly report by the Department of Agriculture about the supply and demand of major domestic and foreign crops and U.S. livestock.

To hear more from Henneberry about the July WASDE report, please view this video.

Architectural rendering of the new Family Respite Care Center by Hussey, Gay, Bell, and DeYoung.

The new Family Respite Care Center will serve family members of trauma victims and critically ill patients, offering them overnight accommodations and other services.

The new facility is “the vision of Rusty and Coren Ross,” whose daughter, Jennifer, died in 2006, according to the medical center. Imperial Sugar’s contribution is part of $500,000 being raised for the project.

“Memorial University Medical Center provided for our employees in a time of urgent need,” says George Muller, vice president of administration at Imperial Sugar. “We want to give back to help ease the burden of those who will come here in the future.”

Donald Farmer, an Imperial Sugar employee injured in the explosion, spoke at a groundbreaking ceremony. Farmer told WSAV TV: “I survived a very horrendous accident, and every day, I thank the Lord for me being here.

“When I came through here, they treated me with care. Everybody seemed to know exactly what they were doing.”

Farmer said he is pleased to know that families using the new respite center will be well taken care of – just as loved ones are who undergo treatment at the medical facility.

Memorial University Medical Center is a 530-bed, academic medical facility that serves a 35-county area in southeast Georgia and southern South Carolina, offering a Level 1 trauma center.

The 4,000-square-foot expansion project will include a kitchen, dining area, washer/dryer, showers and 10 private rooms. It is expected to be finished in several months.

Watch the WSAV news segment by clicking here.

“My particular role is to branch out of our existing core business to create niche markets, by changing our current product portfolio, modifying the products we make, or making new products,” Svenson explains. The economist in him never loses sight of the bottom-line aspect of his role, which is “to create positive cash flow for the company,” he says.

In doing product development, Svenson’s approach is to eliminate process steps to reach the same end result. “When you have unnecessary steps in a process, you incur extra costs in capital, and that all gets rolled into the price of a product, which impacts customers and, ultimately, the company.”

Doug Svenson is one part scientist and one part economist, the senior process development engineer joined Imperial Sugar Company to work on new products and process development.

Svenson earned his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate in wood and paper chemistry from North Carolina State University. He then spent 10 years working in wood and pulp industry research and development. Because wood is comprised of 55 percent to 60 percent polysaccharides, Svenson learned much about sugar chemistry throughout his education and career, even before arriving at Imperial Sugar.

The bulk of his time so far at ISC has gone toward refining the production process for Steviacane,™ a low-calorie, all-natural blend of sugar and stevia. Billed as a new generation of sweetener, Steviacane is deservedly receiving enormous attention from the company’s product development team.

In June, Svenson and the ISC team made a major push forward with a large-scale, multi-day test run of the new granulated sweetener at the company’s Port Wentworth refinery.

“We ran Steviacane for an extended period to look for ways to optimize the process and study the product’s variability,” he says. “What we found is that the product variability was very low, and the product quality was very high. We also identified ways to increase our productivity and efficiency by 80 percent.”

Stepping into a new project, like Steviacane, requires an engineer to tame a swirling mass of information by using every bit of science he knows.

“When you’re coming into something new, it’s almost like managing chaos,” Svenson says. It requires gaining an understanding of a product and the process for making it, as well as the chemistries taking place during its production and the desires of the consumers, who end up with the product.

“You have to ask: What kind of properties do you want to build in to this new product? For example, with a granulated or powdered sweetener, we want to prevent it from absorbing water or getting cakey when it’s sitting in someone’s pantry,” he says.

“The next question is: Can we improve those qualities by changing a process or changing one of the inputs? You have a lot of different things to consider, which means you have to have a broad knowledge of engineering and chemistry, and have a good understanding of what your customer wants.”

The customer, after all, is the one who will see the product on the shelf and want to take it home. Svenson’s thinking always takes him back to these questions: “Is this a good product? Is this something you’d want to buy? Is it priced right?”

He has faith the work he’s doing with Steviacane will be game-changer for the business: “I think we’re going to have a significant impact on the sweetener industry. And I love the process of creating something new. That’s what gets me excited.”

Construction crew positioning steel reinforcement in the foundation of the new LSR refinery.

Construction on the refinery being built by Louisiana Sugar Refining (LSR) crosses a milestone as the foundations for some of its major facilities are poured.

The new refinery, which began construction at the end of 2009, is located in Gramercy, Louisiana, next to Imperial Sugar Company’s (ISC) existing refinery, and is owned jointly by Cargill, ISC and Sugar Growers and Refiners.

Initial work entailed the excavation of a seven-acre parcel of land, driving more than 850 pilings into the ground and preparing preliminary foundation work. This construction set the stage for erecting four new facilities:

• Process/dryer buildings – occupying 35,000 square feet.
• Bulk sugar storage/loading station – 2,000 square feet.
• Raw sugar unloading station – 6,900 square feet.
• Melter station – 3,000 square feet.

Recently, about 300 truckloads – or 3,000 cubic yards – of concrete were poured for the refinery’s process building foundation. The process building is where raw sugar is refined and converted into granulated white sugar and liquid sugar. The steel structure for the building will go up next.

LSR construction site with white Styrofoam spacers.

According to Brian Harrison, vice president of sugar technology for Imperial Sugar, large Styrofoam spacers were placed in non-load-bearing sections of the foundation to save on material costs. Harrison is ISC’s primary liaison for the project and serves on the procurement team.

The de-colorization station housed in the new process building will use a state-of-the-art resin-based technique to refine the color of sugar. This will improve cost of production and process efficiency.

The foundation for the bulk loading and storage building is scheduled to be poured the first week of July, with steel erection following shortly. Here, large quantities of sugar will be stored for loading onto trucks and railcars.

In parallel to the civil and structural activities, some of the equipment to be used in the new buildings is being manufactured – including vacuum pans, the de-colorization system, granulators, material handling systems and packaging machines. Production lead times for equipment range from three to nine months.

Piping, electrical and instrumentation work will take place after the equipment is installed.

The new refinery is scheduled for completion in late spring or early summer 2011. Once operational, it will produce a million tons of sugar per year.

Demand for sugar is on the rise, and the Imperial Sugar Port Wentworth plant is responding to that demand.

Setting goals and surpassing them has become familiar terrain for Imperial Sugar Company’s (ISC) Port Wentworth packaging operators. Recently, packaging operators on several different lines whizzed past yet another goal by sealing up 2.66 million pounds of sugar in one day – a packaging record for the refinery since reopening in November 2009.

“A handful of months ago, we were attempting to package 1.8 million pounds of sugar per day,” recalls William McGhee, packaging team manager. “Once we achieved that, we started reaching for 2 million pounds. Once we got to the 2 million plateau, we aimed for 2.4 million, then later 2.6 million. In that final attempt, we reached and went above our goal.”

Demand for sugar is high, which is why the team has continually upped the number of 2,400-pound totes, 50-pound bags and five-pound bags it hopes to package in a day. This team handles only “small-pack” sugar, not the sugar being distributed by bulk trailer or rail.

William McGee likes breaking one production goal after another.

“We have so much demand for totes, five-pound and 50-pound bags right now, they want us to run those lines at full capacity,” says McGhee.

For the tote operators, the record-setting day was a victory because it was their best sustained run yet – with a grand total of 145 totes packaged. These totes, at 2,400 pounds each, are bound for industrial customers, who create part of the “strong and heavy” demand for ISC sugar, says McGhee.

The operators packaging 50-pound bags – called the “Thiele operators,” after the name of the equipment they operate – achieved a landmark number of bags without technician assistance. “In the past, when we’ve had record days on that equipment, we’ve had technicians from the manufacturing company here on site doing qualifying runs with it,” McGhee says. “So, they were happy to accomplish this on their own.”

On the five-pound bag equipment, he adds, “It was satisfying for those operator mechanics to produce high numbers because they truly ‘own their equipment,’ doing all their own repairs and preventive maintenance. So much of their personal work goes into that equipment.”

The team of packaging operators couldn’t have exceeded their goal on their own, though, notes McGhee. A high-achieving packaging team needs a steady supply of bulk sugar coming in, and a smooth process for moving the packaged product out. It was “very much a joint effort,” he says.

With another goal shattered, McGhee and team now look optimistically toward the next goal: 3 million pounds packaged per day. Says McGhee, “The operators know they can do it. They say, as long as we have sugar, they can run it.”

Apricots are superb dipped in dark chocolate with a cocoa content between 55 to 64 percent.

Apricots are superb dipped in dark chocolate with a cocoa content between 55 to 64 percent. At that cocoa content range, you can still taste the full acidic sweetness of the dried apricots. Dried apricots are fantastic in bringing out the fruity flavor notes of chocolate.

Turns out, the combination is a healthy one as well. Dried apricots are high in fiber and carotenoids, plus, as a bonus, you get the high antioxidant level of chocolate. Carotenoids are antioxidants that help protect us from cancer, heart disease and bad cholesterol.

For the recipe below, it is important to use chocolate with the correct amount of cocoa content. Between 60 and 65 percent is good. If you go higher than those numbers, nuances of the apricot coulis may get lost. You do not want to use chocolate chips, regardless of their cocoa content. The low content of cocoa butter in chocolate chips will interfere with composing a smooth and creamy chocolate crémeux.

Get started by making the crémeux and pour it in the glasses. You can do this a day ahead. To make it right, you will need a digital thermometer. If you do not have one, you will need to get one. Once prepared, place the crémeux well wrapped in the refrigerator, as chocolate products easily absorb refrigerator scents.

For the apricot coulis, select ripe apricots and puree those until very smooth. Add more sugar if needed. I recommend extra fine granulated Imperial Sugar or Dixie Crystals. For an added dimension, I like to use a splash of apricot liquor or Kirsch. You also can do this a day ahead and store in the refrigerator. The crumble is optional but very good, if you like a touch of a crunch. Find the crumble recipe in the recipe archive at “Figs with Mascarpone.” Crumbling some butter cookies also does the job.

When you are ready to serve, spoon some apricot coulis on top of the crémeux, place some apricot quarters in the glass and sprinkle with some crumble topping.

Chocolate crémeux
Yield: up to 6 servings
½ Cup (4 oz) Heavy cream 120g
1 cup (8 oz) Milk 240g
3 3 Egg yolk 3
6 Tablespoon (3 oz) Extra fine granulated sugar 90 g
6 oz (6 oz) Dark chocolate 60-65% cocoa content 180 g

1. Pay close attention to the method and temperatures or you will end up with a curdled mess!
2. Bring the cream, milk and about half of sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Meanwhile in a bowl, whisk the egg yolk smooth and very rapidly whisk in the remaining sugar. Make sure no egg yolk and sugar lumps are still visible.
3. Pour a quarter of the boiling milk into the egg yolk mixture and whisk quickly. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the heated milk and on low heat stir the mixture to 183⁰F (81⁰C) while CONSTANTLY stirring using a rubber spatula. Remove from heat and pour into another bowl to stop the cooking process.
4. Add the chocolate and using an immersion blender or whisk make the mixture smooth. Pour into glasses and place covered in a refrigerator.

Apricot Coulis
Yield: up to 6 servings
6 6 Apricots, ripe 6
1/4 cup (2 oz) Extra fine granulated sugar 60 g
1-2 Tablespoon (1/2 oz -1 oz) Apricot or Kirsch Liquor 15-30 g
1 1 Passion fruit, optional 1

Combine the apricots, sugar and liquor in a pitcher and blend smooth using an immersion blender. If the apricots are meaty and refuse to come to a puree, add some orange juice or water. Once smooth add the juice and seeds if desired from a passion fruit.

Find the crumble recipe in the recipe archive at “Figs in Red Port Reduction.”

Forklifts at the Imperial Sugar Port Wentworth warehouse leave trails of light as they load a record number of trucks.

It was a Friday in May, and in Imperial Sugar’s Port Wentworth warehouse, employees were bustling and trucks were lined up to be loaded with pallets of sugar. On that day, May 28, in a single 16-hour shift, the warehouse loaded and shipped out 71 truckloads of sugar for distribution – a new record for the rebuilt refinery.

To the warehouse team, it felt like old times.

“The volume on that day brought back a lot of memories for us,” says Robert Deloach, the warehouse team leader. “The team felt like we were back to business as usual.”

Before the 2008 explosion at Port Wentworth, it wasn’t unusual for the team to load up to double that amount of sugar during a shift. In those days, Deloach says, Port Wentworth security often came to him saying the line of trucks waiting for sugar was blocking traffic on Highway 25, and that the pickup coordinator needed to ask truck drivers to move off the road.

“We’re not to that point yet,” says Deloach, “but on the day, we hit a new record (in the rebuilt refinery), we felt the same sense of urgency and excitement at the plant.”

Trucks load and roll out of the Port Wentworth warehouse.

The brisk business is an unequivocal sign that demand for ISC’s products is up. More trucks moving in and out of the Port Wentworth warehouse means more orders to fill. The trucks – bound for customers or Imperial Sugar’s satellite warehouses – each carry 42,000 to 43,500 pounds of sugar, depending on whether it is extra-fine granulated, brown or powdered.

“It was a great opportunity for the new employees in the warehouse to see the volume of business we expect going forward,” Deloach says. “We’re looking to average 120 to 135 truckloads a day.”

When volume goes up, keeping the operation running smoothly hinges on strong communications. An appointment coordinator must flawlessly synchronize customer pickups and warehouse clerks must operate scales with efficiency. And on May 28, says Deloach, “it all came together.”