during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the peak of the sugarcane cycle in brazil, raw sugar was refined through a series of heating and filtering processes.   

the last phase involved pouring the sugar into inverted conical, or cone-shaped clay molds called 'sugarloaves' resembling the natural structure, which reaches out into the atlantic ocean and stands just shy of 400 meters tall. the sugar could then be stored and transported with ease.