From sugar beet to sugar
Sugar is extracted from sugar beet in our latitudes. With its pure, clear sweetness, it is one of the most versatile ingredients you can have in your kitchen. In addition to its sweet taste, sugar contributes several different properties in cooking, such as promoting the rise of bread and buns, extending the shelf life of jams, and ensuring the soft and creamy consistency of ice cream.
Sugar beet and sugar cane
All fruits, vegetables and berries contain varying amounts of sugar. Sugar beet and sugar cane are the only plants that contain so much sugar that it is worth extracting. Globally, about 75% of all sugar is produced on the basis of sugar beet. Due to the climate, in the Nordic region we can only grow and therefore only produce sugar from sugar beet.
Sugar extracted from sugar beet and sugar cane is also called sucrose. Sucrose consists of equal parts glucose (grape sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar). Other types of sugar include lactose, which is present in milk products, and maltose which is present in starch from grains such as wheat and barley.
All sugar types are carbohydrates and have the same energy content per 100 g.
From sugar beet to sugar crystals
The sugar beet is harvested in autumn and winter, and it is only during these months that sugar is produced. After the beets are transported to the sugar beet mill they are washed and then cut into thin sticks called cossettes, similar to French fries.
The sugar is extracted from the beet by placing the cossettes in hot water at 70 degrees C. This produces a raw juice, which is purified and then concentrated into a thick juice or syrup containing about 70 percent sugar. When the syrup is boiled, white sugar crystals are formed. The syrup is centrifuged until only the crystals themselves are left - a pure and naturally white sugar. The process of extracting sugar from sugar beet takes about 12 hours, and each sugar beet yields about 30 sugar cubes.
Learn more about the different stages of sugar production in the film From beet to sugar.