There’s no doubt sugar is sweet, but there’s a lot more to it than that.
America’s sugar producers are some of the most efficient in the world. Not only are they good stewards of the land and our precious natural resources, they maximize every part of the sugar crop to minimize waste as sugar moves from their farms to consumers’ tables.
Although the end product from both sugarbeets and sugarcane is the same — sugar — each plant and its various components is slightly different. At the American Sugar Alliance, we’ve been talking a lot about sugar co-products and how they play an important role in our sustainability story.
Sugarbeets, for example, contain one cup of sugar, 2.4 ounces of pulp, four tablespoons of molasses and 4.5 cups of water.
When sugarbeets are processed, every part of the beet is used.
Beet molasses, as well as pulp, can also be made into animal feed. Beet pulp is prized as a dietary additive for animals because it is fiber-rich, full of energy and aids digestion. It’s used to feed Kentucky Derby racehorses, beef cattle, dairy herds, pigs and other livestock. Many pet foods even contain sugarbeet pulp.
Sugarbeet molasses can be used to create an eco-friendly road de-icer.
Sugarcane is one of the most energy-efficient crops on the planet. It is a C4 plant, the highest classification possible in terms of carbon fixation. Through photosynthesis, it is uniquely capable of capturing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen back into the air.
A single sugarcane stalk contains 30 teaspoons of sugar, six teaspoons of molasses, four cups of water and six ounces of fibrous bagasse.
Just like sugarbeet molasses, sugarcane molasses is an important ingredient in many animal feeds. The molasses from sugarcane is also used to make brown sugar. It’s mixed with white granulated sugar to create the rich and flavorful brown sugar that is prized in so many recipes.
Bagasse is what the leftover cane fiber from the milling process is called, and it can be used as fuel to generate steam and electricity. In the sugarcane states of Florida, Louisiana and Texas, the sugarcane industry primarily uses bagasse to fuel their boilers. Florida’s and Texas’s sugar industries even produce enough excess electricity to export energy to the electrical grid. In Texas, for example, the sugarcane mill in the Rio Grande Valley can create enough electricity to power the nearby town of Santa Rosa.
These are just a few of the many ways that America’s sugar producers work to ensure that very little goes to waste when producing their crops.
This is consistent with our decades-long mission to produce sugar sustainably. We’re proud to continue this sustainability legacy while keeping America supplied with this essential ingredient.
So, while sugar is sweet, helping protect our planet is even sweeter.