Sugar Beets

[grundle]

I saw a show last night that briefly talked about sugar beets. I was thrilled to learn that about %49 of sugar produced in the U.S. comes from them. I also learned that you can make molasses and the leftovers from all that processing make good fertilizer.

I was wondering if anyone knows the poor man's way to process them into sucrose and or molasses? I would definitely consider growing these if I was in a long-term survival situation.

[Rick]

I've only grown them for pickling but here's a link:

http://www.sucrose.com/lbeet.html

[grundle]

Rick that is great! That is a little more industrial than I was hoping for, but it sent me on the right track. Check out the following link.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2177131_sugar-beets.html

That is definitely something more manageable. I want to give this a try. If I get a decent crop this year I'll makes some pictures and post the entire process.

[Rick]

Yeah. I just thought if you understood the process you might be able to scale it down to personal use.

[grundle]

Yeah. I just thought if you understood the process you might be able to scale it down to personal use.

You are exactly right. Problem with industrial stuff is they are interested in purity and quantity. The steps where you add chalk and strain, where you grow crystals, and then centrifuge for separation. Those are all purifying and presentation techniques for mass consumers who want "perfection". In essence they can be skipped saving a tone of time and energy.

[RunsWithDeer]

Michigan is #2 in the country in sugar beet production (Louisiana is #1). We have several processors near me and I have toured one of them. It is a very involved process and does not look practical for conversion of sugar on a small scale.
Which reminds me, I need to stop by and pick up of the left over pulp, we use it for feeding the cows.

[grundle]

Michigan is #2 in the country in sugar beet production (Louisiana is #1). We have several processors near me and I have toured one of them. It is a very involved process and does not look practical for conversion of sugar on a small scale.
Which reminds me, I need to stop by and pick up of the left over pulp, we use it for feeding the cows.

The statistic I saw was something like a 10:1 conversion.

For 100lb of sugar beets you can get 10lb of raw sugar.

Like you said RunsWithDeer, the rest of it makes great feed for livestock. For me this seems like an ideal crop since you can make use of 100% of its various parts. It is always nice when you have no waste leftover.