Sugar beets

I'm going through my seed catalogs saw sugar beet seeds. Been reading up on the processes they do to produce the sugar from them. It was interesting. Some of the refining and ending process sound like wine making in a way to create the white sugar substance. Anyhow I also found info on making sugar beet syrup at home with your home grown beets. I want to try this summer. Them maybe make a mead like with it. Sounds fun.

Sugar beats are easy to grow. In my youth my family grew thousands of acres of them. During the depression when Canadian buyers would pay more for them Great western sugar would give shares to loyal farmers who sold the them at a slightly lower price. when my grandfather died he had thousands of shares. Any way they are a fun veggi at the table and are great as French fries. However because they are full of sugar they really cannot be used in a melomel. With their high sugar content, the addition of honey sets the SG. so high I doubt you could keep a yeast going well.

Interesting I may be asking more questions when spring comes along. What if you used straight syrup and no honey and process like a mead. I'm going to a least try the syrup. Info said, I think I will have to refer back you can make it even like a molasses type syrup.that prob be to strong flavor.

Hmmm....We have a decently sized garden (for an urban plot) every year and I've just about convinced Manthing to make me two new raised beds.
I may see if I can sneak a third in there and grow a few of these.

Does anyone know if they do well in hot areas?
Or I guess I could always just sow some now and see how they do.

I guess you could run one or two through a food processor, maybe simmer it for a bit, then strain and use the water for your must. That way you get some of the flavor and sugar without messing about with your SG.

I just may try those out then.

If they don't work for us, then they certainly sound like a tasty treat for the chickens.

I'm trying to going to make syrup.maybe try using that or the suger beet wine recipe.the syrup can even be cleared with same of the same stuff we use in wine making. Says you can eat the greens when young I'll probably try then feed greens to my rabbits. A no waste plant.

spunk said:

I'm trying to going to make syrup.maybe try using that or the suger beet wine recipe.the syrup can even be cleared with same of the same stuff we use in wine making. Says you can eat the greens when young I'll probably try then feed greens to my rabbits. A no waste plant.

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I would not say that unless you have livestock to feed the unfermented pulp to you will have a lot of that to waste.

Well yea ya got me there if I did that's where it would go. Quail and chicken prob eat them. I'll just compost the waste so it goes back into my garden. So that good for me you can keep pulling the leaves of the plants they will grow back and I can feed the rabbits from a few of the plants. I'm up for a challenge.

Even at that I guess it would not be wasted. Anything that goes back to our mother to nourish her in turn nourishes us. The cycle will be complete. My hogs would sure like those beat pulp though.

Will see if I get them too grow anyhow. I read that people plant them to attract deer to their land for hunting. If I only had 5 or so I would be trying all kinda stuff.

Sugar beets are a big crop in Imperial valley near El Centro California, theres a big sugar beet processing plant there called Spreckles Sugar. They produce granulated sugar and the byproducts is sugar beet pulp and molasses that is sold to livestock producers and ethanol producers. There is even a company in San Diego that uses sugar beets to produce a distilled alcohol that is sold over seas to France to the makers of Triple Sec. I've seen the livestock grade sugar beet molasses that is sold in feed stores here it has a real strong sulfur smell to it, apparently cows like it though.

I started some seeds i received on line. Some came up. So maybe i can make some sugar beet. plants are about a foot tall now. Not many but what the heck ill see what i can do with them.