[p00rstudent]

I have realised that if i am to turn my black currants into cordial and raspberries into jam, i am going to need quite a lot of sugar, so i am toying with the idea of growing sugar beets and getting sugar from that.

1/has any one ever done this?
2/how do you convert the beet into sugar (using stuff i can keep in the shed or kitchen)?
3/ where can you get sugar beet seed from?

cheers for any help you can give

Paul

[DD.]

Perhaps a more relevant question is "How much space will I need"?

If I've read this correctly.........

http://sugarbeet.ucdavis.edu/sbchap.html

a record harvest yielded 19.1 Tonnes per Hectare.

This is 19,100 per 10,000 sq metres or 1.9 kg per sq metre.

Typical yields are half this, so say 1 kg per sq metre or one bag of sugar.

Then you've got to refine it!

[gobs]

Or just chuck a few white beetroot into the jam.

[Kate and her Ducks]

I look at this a little while ago, mainly as a curiosity for fun. Couldn't find anything outside industrial quantities. Would be more than interested in going in on some seed just to see what happens.

Can't imagine that it would ever be "worth while" but fun always is

[Brambles]

Don't mean to be an old party pooper... but I reckon best bet is to go to the local supermarket when sugar is on offer!    SORRY :oops:

[Kate and her Ducks]

Well obviously!

But where is the fun in that!

[Salmo]

They grow a lot of sugar beet on the Fens in these parts.

Sugar beet is the same plant as beetroot, chard and perpetual spinach but has been bred for sugar content and straight roots that can be harvested with machines like combines.

In the factories they chop up the beet, boil it and filter off the solids. The resultant liquid is boiled to reduce it to a syrup and sugar crystals are made from this. The liquid that is left is molasses.

I am sure that this can be reproduced in the kitchen but like the previous reply I think it will be more expensive than Tesco.

Sugar beet contains about 16 per cent pure sugar so that this would work out at about 1 lb per square yard. Your calculations are not far off.

The HQ of British Sugar plc, who produce Silver Spoon, are in Peterborough. Address British Sugar plc, Oundle Road, Peterborough. If you want to have a go why not contact them and ask for a handfull of seed. Tell them it is for a school project - devious, but it will improve your chances.