growing sugar

[Rosendula]

I'm having a go at growing my own sugar! I'm trying both cane and beet sugar, but the cane doesn't appear to be doing anything at all. It's not forming roots and the bud isn't growing. I don't think my cutting was a very good quality one, and I'm not sure my growing conditions (in the greenhouse) are ideal. So I'm giving beet a try too. Only sowed the first seeds yesterday, so it's going to be a while before I get sugar. I'm hoping it will be ready to harvest and process around the same time as the soft fruit is ready to harvest - thinking free jam and wine!

If anyone's tried this and has any words of wisdom, I'm all ears (or is it eyes on the 'pooter?) Or if anyone wants to join me in what is really just a fun experiment, please do and we can compare notes.

[Odsox]

Sugar beet growing should be fairly easy although I haven't done it myself.
Lot's of sugar beet is grown in East Anglia and up until a couple of years ago all Irish sugar was made from home grown beet ... then the EU stepped in and insisted we use a percentage of cane sugar which totally killed off the sugar processor as they couldn't compete

I think the problem is going to be the "refining" bit after harvest.
I know during the war it was done but I seem to remember that most people did without rather than process the beet ... after lots of boiling you end up with a rather disgusting tasting syrup I seem to recall.
It would be interesting to try though, so don't let me put you off.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Wee hee you have realy caught my attention with this. cant wait to see how it all goes.
Any pdf's or websites on the go to woah process you can recommend + where did you get sugar beet seeds from?

[Rosendula]

I just googled 'how to make sugar from beet' and it brought up a few sites. My biggest problem (bearing in mind I only sowed the seeds a couple of days ago, so there may be lots more problems yet to come), was finding the seeds. Try putting in 'sugar beet seeds' and you just can't find them. However, if you go on Wikipedia it tells you that sugar beet is Beta Vulgaris L. If you look for Beta Vulgaris seeds, it brings up Chard, leaf beet, and all sorts. So there was me, in A$da (sorry), and while LO was looking at toys on one side of the aisle, I was looking at garden stuff on the other side, just for something to do. And there they had some Chard. Checked on the back of the packet and it said "Beta Vulgaris" My only concern is the "L". I don't know what it stands for, if it makes a difference or what. Anyhoo, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and if I can't get sugar, I'll just eat the leaves instead

[Muscroj]

ooh thats interesting, I have a few chard plants coming up that I have sown a few weeks ago, I had no idea they were sugar beet! Are we talking swiss chard, with the brightly coloured stalks?? You've got me going now too! Off to do some googling!

[Rosendula]

Right, I've grabbed my seed packet. It's "Chard, White Silver 2". Like I say, I'm not 100% certain that this is the right one, but the amount of sugar I get through these days, I think it's worth a try. If anyone with more knowledge and/or experience than me can confirm I'm on the right track, or even tell me I'm way off, I would be very grateful.

[Odsox]

Um ... I think you may well be disappointed with your efforts Rosendula, Chard is most definitely NOT sugar beet, in fact it doesn't even produce a swollen root.
Sugar beet is a type of of beetroot, but then again it's not the white beetroot that's commonly available from seed companies like T&M, Suttons etc.

Chard produces edible thick stems similar to celery, either white or red (white in your case)

[Rosendula]

Well in that case, does anyone know where I can get the proper seeds from please?

[Odsox]

Take a look here ... http://www.millingtonseed.com/vegetable ... _seeds.htm
You might change your mind when you read ...........

<quote> Mature sugar beets get up to 1 foot long, weigh 3 - 5 pounds and produce an average of 3 teaspoons of sugar.

It may be fun, but is it worth it ?

[Muscroj]

ah, someone "beet" me to it lol


having read a few articles I don't think Chard & sugar beet are the same thing, although the same cultivar, they are different varieties, the same way that potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines & deadly nightshade are all part of the Solanaceae cultivar. Although you can eat the fruit of one & the roots of another, you certainly wouldn't want to be eating deadly nightshade.

As well as sugar beet & chard, the Beta Vulgaris cultivar has beetroot & mangle worzle (I always wondered what this was when they talked about it on Victorian Farm) so I've got a feeling that although Chard has fab leaves, it may have a puny (sp?) root which will be no good for converting into the good stuff. But as you say, at least you'll have some decent chard leaves & it might still be worth experimenting with the root, just make sure it's not poisonous!!! lol

[Rosendula]

We need a smilie with a big pet lip, 'cos I'm sulking big style

Ah, well.

[Muscroj]

if it makes you feel any better, I did see a comment on a gardening forum that someone had had a nibble on a chard root & it was sweet, so perhaps you may find new an exciting culinary uses, perhaps it could be grated up to use to sweeten muffins or something, like carrot cake!! My sister did some beetroot chocolate brownies which were beautifully moist & rich, but unfortunatly they had an underlying taste of beetroot, which is OK ,if you like beetroot!

[red]

we have a row of sugar beet growing. we got out seeds from seeds by size.

last we i sowed the direct and nothing happened - this year I have started them in modules first. Seymour has a description of how to make sugar out of it. we are on,ly doing this for interest sake, as himself comes from East Anglia where they grow it seriously. we cant hope to make enough sugar to meet our needs

i did see a recipe for sugar beet wine too...

[Millymollymandy]

Rosendula - where did you get the sugar cane from?

[Rosendula]

Rosendula - where did you get the sugar cane from?

I got that from eBay. I thought it seemed a little dried out when I got it, but I'm giving it a try anyway. I read somewhere that you can get them from Asian stores, but those kind of stores are really difficult to get to for us - either 2 bus rides to go something like 4 miles, or go in car and parking's really difficult round there. It's something we keep meaning to do next time we're up that way, but we never go up that way