Sugar, AKA sucrose for you science-lovers, is the carbohydrate that is produced in plants through photosynthesis. Although all fruits and veggies contain sugar, it is most abundant in sugar cane and sugarbeets!
So… what’s a sugarbeet?
“Sugarbeets… those red things my grandma grows in her garden?” Nope, try again! Those are a different type of beet.
A sugarbeet is a really unique crop that is responsible for approximately 55% of our country’s domestically produced sugar! They’re similar to the red garden beet, but they are larger and have a white fleshy root. (Check out the pic above for an idea.) Although I know farmers who sample them straight from the field, they aren’t really edible at harvest. One of these sugarbeets can produce about 5 ounces of sugar! Sweet!
Both my and Reilee’s families are shareholders in our local sugar cooperatives. Wait… so, what does that mean? A cooperative is a business that is run and owned by its members. So back in the 1970s, farmers in this area wanted to grow sugarbeets, but (as you will see in this post) there is a LOT of capital and expensive equipment that is needed to get sugar out of those sugarbeets! So, farmers pooled their money to create sugar factories.
Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative was gracious enough to bring me on a tour to follow a sugarbeet from the time it’s brought into the factory until it becomes the sugar we all know and love!
Source: www.rrvalleygirls.com