Source: Post Register
Early harvest for Idaho sugarbeets is officially in full swing, with the process starting on Sept. 4 in the Magic Valley and Upper Snake River regions and, on Oct. 1, in the Treasure Valley.
According to Jessica McAnally, communications specialist for Amalgamated Sugar, the past few weeks of early harvest have shown sugar beet sugar content to be excellent at an average of 17.4 percent, although that percentage is expected to trend higher once regular harvest begins. Yields are also reported to be on track with estimated at 39+ tons per acre.
“We’re optimistic that we will have an excellent harvest this year, as long as the weather cooperates, and we are able to have clean, healthy sugar beets in our storage piles,” McAnally said. “It’s difficult to make a projection on harvest overall at this point, but we are optimistic.”
Amalgamated operates three processing factories in Idaho: in Twin Falls, Paul and Nampa. McAnally said a majority of the company’s retail packaging happens at the Nampa factory, while the sugar processed at the Paul and Twin Falls factories is shipped in bulk for commercial use.
“The past few months have been spent in thoroughly maintaining and repairing the machines and equipment at all of our factories in preparation for this year’s harvest,” McAnally said. “The Nampa factory is preparing for ‘start-up,’ so there is a lot of work being done to be sure that things go smoothly once sugar beets begin arriving at the factory.”
Once the sugarbeets start arriving at the factories, they will be washed and sliced into thin strips called cosettes. After the sugar is diffused from the cosettes, it is then purified, concentrated, enriched with raw sugars and crystallized.
“The final syrup is called molasses,” McAnally said. “At our Twin Falls and Nampa factories, molasses is processed through large chromatography columns called separators to capture any remaining sugar and another sugar beet byproduct called betaine. Betaine is a provitamin used as a livestock feed ingredient. In a further refined state, it is used as a nutritional supplement. This recovery process was also developed by Amalgamated Research LLC.”
The crystallized sugar is classified into various granulation sizes by passing through a series of screens and then packaged. The leftover sugar beet is pressed, dried and sold as cattle feed.
At the Nampa factory, after the sugar is classified and packaged, the retail packages (4-, 10-, 25-pound bags, etc.) are sold at grocery stores throughout the western United States under the White Satin name. At the other two factories, some sugar is packaged for retail, but most of the sugar made at both Paul and Twin Falls is shipped in bulk for commercial use. According to McAnally, this sugar leaves the factory in trucks and rail cars and is used as an ingredient in candy, baked goods, beverages and other products that are distributed across the U.S. and in some cases, worldwide.