“The Aroma of Colombia” instantly takes Jorge Gonzalez back to his childhood at the Riopaila sugar mill on the grounds of Ingenio Riopaila, in the north of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Jorge’s father managed the sugar mill at Riopaila for more than 30 years and Jorge was born and raised on the Riopaila Plantation. As a child, Jorge would ride his bike or horse to school, located on the grounds, and spend his afternoons at the mill sipping fresh, sweet sugar cane juice. By 5 years old, Jorge was familiar with the equipment in the mill, already showing an incredible ability to disassemble and re-assemble the milling equipment. If anyone was designed to create our amazing product POLICANE®, it was Jorge.

It's no surprise that Jorge would attend Louisiana State University, the only university then offering a program in sugar mill engineering. Jorge studied sugar mill engineering and obtained his degree in industrial engineering. Jorge was fortunate to study under Arthur Keller, the renowned chemical engineer and sugar mill technologist, becoming his personal assistant for many years. Jorge would eventually return to Riopaila to run the mill with record productivity.

After founding and running a successful construction company, Jorge refocused on sugar cane processing with a goal of giving back to the industry he loves and for which he has served as a board member for decades. It always bothered Jorge that current milling processes strip sugar cane juice of its naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, leaving refined sugar, a product which has been directly linked to obesity, diabetes, and poor health. Refined sugar is causing harm to human health and wellbeing, and Jorge, together with his wife Mariana, have teamed up to bring us a healthier sweetener.

Over the past two decades, Jorge has worked tirelessly to invent and patent the process to make POLICANE®, a sugar cane juice concentrate that retains many of the naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and policosanols (existing in the waxy outer layer of sugar cane). POLICANE is a shelf-stable delicious sweetener in the form of a golden-brown syrup or granulated crystals. POLICANE is a healthier, more nutritious sugar with a lower glycemic index. POLICANE is the sugar the world needs