2017
TM4298 : Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)
taken 7 years ago, near to Thurlton, Norfolk, England
Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)
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Link. Sugar beet is a form of beet of the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae). Its juice contains high levels of sucrose and is second only to sugarcane as the major source of the world’s sugar. The beets are grown from seed. Long before it was valued for its sugar content, sugar beet was grown as a garden vegetable and for fodder. Sugar was produced experimentally from beets in Germany in 1747 by chemist Andreas Marggraf, but the first beet-sugar factory was built in 1802 in Silesia (now Poland). When the British blockade cut off the French empire's raw cane sugar supply from the West Indies in 1811, Napoleon became interested in the process and 40 beet-sugar factories were established in France under his influence. Beet-sugar production increased rapidly throughout Europe and by 1880 the tonnage had overtaken that of cane sugar. Beet sugar now accounts for almost all sugar production in the European Union and for about one-fifth of the total world production.
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