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95-471: After the McCloud Railway took over operations of the former McCloud River Railroad, the line was an industrial railroad hauling sugar beets , lumber , and various other freight. Passenger service was never considered by the railroad. However, locals and many in the railroad wanted to try excursion service . The first of this was in 1994 when Yreka Western #19 traveled from Yreka to Mt. Shasta City and took

190-460: A crop rotation cycle. Sugar beet plants are susceptible to Rhizomania ("root madness"), which turns the bulbous tap root into many small roots, making the crop economically unprocessable. Strict controls are enforced in European countries to prevent the spread, but it is already present in some areas. It is also susceptible to both the beet leaf curl virus , which causes crinkling and stunting of

285-402: A disaccharide , is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar . It has the molecular formula C 12 H 22 O 11 . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined from either sugarcane or sugar beet . Sugar mills – typically located in tropical regions near where sugarcane

380-656: A sugar nip , a pliers-like tool, in order to break off pieces. The demand for cheaper table sugar drove, in part, colonization of tropical islands and nations where labor-intensive sugarcane plantations and table sugar manufacturing could thrive. Growing sugar cane crop in hot humid climates, and producing table sugar in high temperature sugar mills was harsh, inhumane work. The demand for cheap labor for this work, in part, first drove slave trade from Africa (in particular West Africa), followed by indentured labor trade from South Asia (in particular India). Millions of slaves, followed by millions of indentured laborers were brought into

475-404: A black, carbon -rich solid, as indicated in the following idealized equation: H 2 SO 4 (catalyst) + C 12 H 22 O 11 → 12 C + 11 H 2 O + heat (and some H 2 O + SO 3 as a result of the heat) . The formula for sucrose's decomposition can be represented as a two-step reaction: the first simplified reaction is dehydration of sucrose to pure carbon and water, and then carbon

570-466: A byproduct of manufacturing sugar. It is about fermenting the sugar beet molasses that are left after (the second) centrifugation. This strongly resembles the manufacture of rum from sugar cane molasses. In a number of countries, notably the Czech Republic and Slovakia , this analogy led to making a rum-like distilled spirit called Tuzemak . On the Åland Islands , a similar drink is made under

665-408: A couple excursions between McCloud, Burney , and Hambone . Seeing the success of the trips with #19 and in addition with suggestions from locals, the railroad started making plans for a dinner train service. They purchased two former Illinois Central passenger cars from a defunct museum collection to use on the new service between McCloud and Mt. Shasta City to the west and McCloud to Bartle to

760-453: A four-course dinner served on tables covered with white linen tablecloths, china plates and sterling silver settings. Lace valances decorate the windows, which offer outstanding views as the train winds its way through the forest". The railroad almost immediately purchased three more cars, two more former Illinois Central heavyweights and a former Milwaukee Road coach; the heavyweights allowed the dinner train to expand from one to four cars within

855-433: A great deal of moisture. A certain amount of alkali is not necessarily detrimental, as sugar beets are not especially susceptible to injury by some alkali. The ground should be fairly level and well-drained, especially where irrigation is practiced. Generous crops can be grown in both sandy soil and heavy loams , but the ideal soil is a sandy loam, i.e., a mixture of organic matter, clay and sand. A subsoil of gravel, or

950-418: A height of about 35 cm (14 in). The leaves are numerous and broad and grow in a tuft from the crown of the beet, which is usually level with or just above the ground surface. The species beet consists of several cultivar groups. The 16th-century French scientist Olivier de Serres discovered a process for preparing sugar syrup from (red) beetroot . He wrote: "The beet-root, when being boiled, yields

1045-587: A high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet ( Beta vulgaris ). Together with other beet cultivars, such as beetroot and chard , it belongs to the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris but classified as var. saccharifera . Its closest wild relative is the sea beet ( Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima ). Sugar beets are grown in climates that are too cold for sugarcane . In 2020, Russia,

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1140-514: A juice similar to syrup of sugar, which is beautiful to look at on account of its vermilion colour" (1575). Because crystallized cane sugar was already available and had a better taste, this process did not become popular. Modern sugar beets date to the mid-18th century Silesia where Frederick the Great , king of Prussia , subsidized experiments to develop processes for sugar extraction. In 1747, Andreas Sigismund Marggraf , professor of physics in

1235-582: A low toxicity . A study from the UK suggests yields of genetically modified beet were greater than conventional, while another from the North Dakota State University extension service found lower yields. The introduction of glyphosate-resistant sugar beets may contribute to the growing number of glyphosate-resistant weeds, so Monsanto has developed a program to encourage growers to use different herbicide modes of action to control their weeds. In 2008,

1330-520: A plant pest. Sugar from glyphosate-resistant sugar beets has been approved for human and animal consumption in multiple countries, but commercial production of biotech beets has been approved only in the United States and Canada. Studies have concluded the sugar from glyphosate-resistant sugar beets has the same nutritional value as sugar from conventional sugar beets. After deregulation in 2005, glyphosate-resistant sugar beets were extensively adopted in

1425-506: A spread for sandwiches, as well as for sweetening sauces, cakes and desserts. Dutch people generally top their pancakes with stroop. Suikerstroop made according to the Dutch tradition is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed under EU and UK law. Commercially, if the syrup has a dextrose equivalency (DE) above 30, the product has to be hydrolyzed and converted to a high-fructose syrup, much like high-fructose corn syrup , or isoglucose syrup in

1520-563: A sticky, extracellular, dextran -based polysaccharide that allows them to cohere, forming plaque . Sucrose is the only sugar that bacteria can use to form this sticky polysaccharide. The word sucrose was coined in 1857, by the English chemist William Miller from the French sucre ("sugar") and the generic chemical suffix for sugars -ose . The abbreviated term Suc is often used for sucrose in scientific literature. The name saccharose

1615-403: A study at University of Maryland Eastern Shore indicates sugar beets appear capable of producing 8,000–8,400 litres per hectare (860–900 US gallons per acre) of ethanol. In New Zealand, sugar beet is widely grown and harvested as feed for dairy cattle. It is regarded as superior to fodder beet , because it has a lower water content (resulting in better storage properties). Both the beet bulb and

1710-453: A sucrose content of around 18% in modern varieties. Franz Karl Achard opened the world's first beet sugar factory in 1801, at Kunern , Silesia (now Konary, Poland). The idea to produce sugar from beet was soon introduced to France, whence the European sugar beet industry rapidly expanded. By 1840, about 5% of the world's sugar was derived from sugar beets, and by 1880, this number had risen more than tenfold to over 50%. In North America,

1805-447: A sugar refinery. The beet pulp is processed on site to become cattle fodder. The next steps to produce white sugar are not specific for producing sugar from sugar beet. They also apply to producing white sugar from sugar cane. As such, they belong to the sugar refining process, not to the beet sugar production process per se. There are two obvious methods to produce alcohol ( ethanol ) from sugar beet. The first method produces alcohol as

1900-522: A time to be careful when driving on local roads in the area while the beets are being grown, because the naturally high clay content of the soil tends to cause slippery roads when soil falls from the trailers during transport. The world harvested 260,998,614 metric tons (256,900,000 long tons; 287,700,000 short tons) of sugar beets in 2022. The world's largest producer was Russia, with a 48,907,753 metric tons (48,100,000 long tons; 53,900,000 short tons) harvest. The average yield of sugar beet crops worldwide

1995-415: A winter crop, planted in the autumn and harvested in the spring. In recent years, Syngenta has developed the so-called tropical sugar beet. It allows the plant to grow in tropical and subtropical regions. Beets are planted from a small seed; one kilogram (2 lb 3 oz) of beet seed comprises 100,000 seeds and will plant over one hectare ( 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 acres) of ground. Until the latter half of

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2090-399: A year, and the railroad installed a generator to provide house power, a small gift shop, and a lounge area in the former Milwaukee car. By 1998, the dinner train was so popular that the railroad bought more Illinois Central passenger cars, one of which the railroad converted into a depot for the dinner train while the shops rebuilt the other two into state of the art dancing cars. The train had

2185-464: Is a naturally occurring sugar, but with the advent of industrialization , it has been increasingly refined and consumed in all kinds of processed foods. The production of table sugar has a long history. Some scholars claim Indians discovered how to crystallize sugar during the Gupta dynasty , around CE 350. Other scholars point to the ancient manuscripts of China, dated to the 8th century BCE, where one of

2280-475: Is approximately 731 (714–758) Megabases, and sugar beet DNA is packaged in 18 metacentric chromosomes (2n=2x=18). All sugar beet centromeres are made up of a single satellite DNA family and centromere-specific LTR retrotransposons . More than 60% of sugar beet's DNA is repetitive, mostly distributed in a dispersed way along the chromosomes. Crop wild beet populations ( B. vulgaris ssp. maritima ) have been sequenced as well, allowing for identification of

2375-430: Is by isotope analysis of carbon. Cane uses C4 carbon fixation , and beet uses C3 carbon fixation , resulting in a different ratio of C and C isotopes in the sucrose. Tests are used to detect fraudulent abuse of European Union subsidies or to aid in the detection of adulterated fruit juice . Sugar cane tolerates hot climates better, but the production of sugar cane needs approximately four times as much water as

2470-429: Is done in a beet sugar factory, often abbreviated to sugar factory. Nowadays these most of the time also act as a sugar refinery, but historically the beet sugar factory produced raw sugar and the sugar refinery refined raw sugar to create white sugar. In the 1960s, beet sugar processing was described as consisting of these steps. Nowadays, most sugar factories then refine the raw juice themselves, without moving it to

2565-452: Is grown – crush the cane and produce raw sugar which is shipped to other factories for refining into pure sucrose. Sugar beet factories are located in temperate climates where the beet is grown, and process the beets directly into refined sugar. The sugar-refining process involves washing the raw sugar crystals before dissolving them into a sugar syrup which is filtered and then passed over carbon to remove any residual colour. The sugar syrup

2660-443: Is often used in food preparation, humans find molasses from sugar beets unpalatable, and it consequently ends up mostly as industrial fermentation feedstock (for example in alcohol distilleries), or as animal feed . Once dried, either type of molasses can serve as fuel for burning. Pure beet sugar is difficult to find, so labelled, in the marketplace. Although some makers label their product clearly as "pure cane sugar", beet sugar

2755-609: Is oxidised to CO 2 by O 2 from air. C 12 H 22 O 11 + heat → 12 C + 11 H 2 O 12 C + 12 O 2 → 12 CO 2 Hydrolysis breaks the glycosidic bond converting sucrose into glucose and fructose . Hydrolysis is, however, so slow that solutions of sucrose can sit for years with negligible change. If the enzyme sucrase is added, however, the reaction will proceed rapidly. Hydrolysis can also be accelerated with acids, such as cream of tartar or lemon juice, both weak acids. Likewise, gastric acidity converts sucrose to glucose and fructose during digestion,

2850-603: Is produced by cooking shredded sugar beet for several hours, then pressing the resulting mash and concentrating the juice produced until it has a consistency similar to that of honey . No other ingredients are used. In Germany, particularly the Rhineland area, and in the Netherlands, this sugar beet syrup (called Zuckerrüben-Sirup or Zapp in German, or Suikerstroop in Dutch) is used as

2945-500: Is the main sugar. In others, such as grapes and pears , fructose is the main sugar. After numerous unsuccessful attempts by others, Raymond Lemieux and George Huber succeeded in synthesizing sucrose from acetylated glucose and fructose in 1953. In nature, sucrose is present in many plants, and in particular their roots, fruits and nectars , because it serves as a way to store energy, primarily from photosynthesis . Many mammals, birds, insects and bacteria accumulate and feed on

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3040-399: Is the most important factor in the successful cultivation of sugar beets. Near the equator, the shorter days and the greater heat of the sun sharply reduce the sugar content in the beet. In high elevation regions such as those of Idaho, Colorado and Utah, where the temperature is high during the daytime, but where the nights are cool, the quality of the sugar beet is excellent. In Michigan ,

3135-534: Is the source of the word candy . The army of Alexander the Great was halted on the banks of river Indus by the refusal of his troops to go further east. They saw people in the Indian subcontinent growing sugarcane and making "granulated, salt-like sweet powder", locally called sākhar ( साखर ), ( شکر ), pronounced as sakcharon ( ζακχαρον ) in Greek (Modern Greek, zachari , ζάχαρη ). On their return journey,

3230-439: Is then concentrated by boiling under a vacuum and crystallized as the final purification process to produce crystals of pure sucrose that are clear, odorless, and sweet. Sugar is often an added ingredient in food production and recipes. About 185 million tonnes of sugar were produced worldwide in 2017. Sucrose is particularly dangerous as a risk factor for tooth decay because Streptococcus mutans bacteria convert it into

3325-415: Is then stored in the root. The root of the beet contains 75% water, about 20% sugar, and 5% pulp . The exact sugar content can vary between 12% and 21%, depending on the cultivar and growing conditions. Sugar is the primary value of sugar beet as a cash crop . The pulp, insoluble in water and mainly composed of cellulose , hemicellulose, lignin , and pectin , is used in animal feed. The byproducts of

3420-408: Is typically able to cover six rows at the same time. The beets are dumped into trucks as the harvester rolls down the field, and then delivered to the factory. The conveyor then removes more soil. If the beets are to be left for later delivery, they are formed into clamps . Straw bales are used to shield the beets from the weather. Provided the clamp is well built with the right amount of ventilation,

3515-594: The Center for Food Safety , the Sierra Club , the Organic Seed Alliance and High Mowing Seeds filed a lawsuit against USDA-APHIS regarding their decision to deregulate glyphosate-resistant sugar beets in 2005. The organizations expressed concerns regarding glyphosate-resistant sugar beets' ability to potentially cross-pollinate with conventional sugar beets. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White , US District Court for

3610-677: The West Indies in 1506 ( Cuba in 1523). The Portuguese first cultivated sugarcane in Brazil in 1532. Sugar remained a luxury in much of the world until the 18th century. Only the wealthy could afford it. In the 18th century, the demand for table sugar boomed in Europe and by the 19th century it had become regarded as a human necessity. The use of sugar grew from use in tea, to cakes , confectionery and chocolates . Suppliers marketed sugar in novel forms, such as solid cones, which required consumers to use

3705-463: The date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera ), sorghum ( Sorghum vulgare ), and the sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ). Sucrose is obtained by extraction of these crops with hot water; concentration of the extract gives syrups, from which solid sucrose can be crystallized. In 2017, worldwide production of table sugar amounted to 185 million tonnes. Most cane sugar comes from countries with warm climates, because sugarcane does not tolerate frost. Sugar beets, on

3800-487: The water-gas shift reaction also take place. A more accurate theoretical equation is: C 12 H 22 O 11 + 6.288 KNO 3 → 3.796 CO 2 + 5.205 CO + 7.794 H 2 O + 3.065 H 2 + 3.143 N 2 + 2.988 K 2 CO 3 + 0.274 KOH Sucrose burns with chloric acid , formed by the reaction of hydrochloric acid and potassium chlorate : 8 HClO 3 + C 12 H 22 O 11 → 11 H 2 O + 12 CO 2 + 8 HCl Sucrose can be dehydrated with sulfuric acid to form

3895-422: The 20th century, sugar beet production was highly labor-intensive, as weed control was managed by densely planting the crop, which then had to be manually thinned two or three times with a hoe during the growing season. Harvesting also required many workers. Although the roots could be lifted by a plough -like device that could be pulled by a horse team, the rest of the preparation was by hand. One laborer grabbed

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3990-725: The Academy of Science of Berlin, isolated sugar from beetroots and found them at concentrations of 1.3–1.6%. He also demonstrated that the sugar that could be extracted from beets was identical to that produced from cane. He found the best of these vegetable sources for sugar was the white beet. Despite Marggraf's success in isolating sugar from beets, it did not lead to commercial sugar production. Marggraf's student and successor Franz Karl Achard began plant breeding sugar beet in Kaulsdorf near Berlin in 1786. Achard started his plant breeding by evaluating 23 varieties of beet for sugar content. In

4085-552: The Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Islands, East Africa, Natal, north and eastern parts of South America, and southeast Asia. The modern ethnic mix of many nations, settled in the last two centuries, has been influenced by table sugar. Beginning in the late 18th century, the production of sugar became increasingly mechanized. The steam engine first powered a sugar mill in Jamaica in 1768, and, soon after, steam replaced direct firing as

4180-736: The EU. Uridine can be isolated from sugar beet. BP and Associated British Foods plan to use agricultural surpluses of sugar beet to produce biobutanol in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. The feedstock-to-yield ratio for sugarbeet is 56:9. Therefore, it takes 6.22 kg of sugar beet to produce 1 kg of ethanol (approximately 1.27 L at room temperature). In 2006 it was found that producing ethanol from sugar beet or cane became profitable when market prices for ethanol were close to $ 4 per gallon. According to Atlantic Biomass president Robert Kozak,

4275-560: The Greek soldiers carried back some of the "honey-bearing reeds". Sugarcane remained a limited crop for over a millennium. Sugar was a rare commodity and traders of sugar became wealthy. Venice, at the height of its financial power, was the chief sugar-distributing center of Europe . Moors started producing it in Sicily and Spain . Only after the Crusades did it begin to rival honey as a sweetener in Europe. The Spanish began cultivating sugarcane in

4370-411: The McCloud Railway announced that the dinner train would cease operations at the end of 2009, which would in turn end the McCloud Railway. But a spike in demand from those wanting one last ride prompted the railroad to add several more trips, and the final dinner train operated on Saturday, 16 January 2010. remain on the McCloud Railway. Sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains

4465-623: The Northern District of California , revoked the deregulation of glyphosate-resistant sugar beets and declared it unlawful for growers to plant glyphosate-resistant sugar beets in the spring of 2011. Believing a sugar shortage would occur USDA-APHIS developed three options in the environmental assessment to address the concerns of environmentalists. In 2011, a federal appeals court for the Northern district of California in San Francisco overturned

4560-524: The United States (including California). In the northern hemisphere, the beet-growing season ends with the start of harvesting around September. Harvesting and processing continues until March in some cases. The availability of processing plant capacity and the weather both influence the duration of harvesting and processing – the industry can store harvested beets until processed, but a frost-damaged beet becomes effectively unprocessable. The United States sets high sugar prices to support its producers, with

4655-464: The United States, Germany, France and Turkey were the world's five largest sugar beet producers. In 2010–2011, Europe, and North America except Arctic territories failed to supply the overall domestic demand for sugar and were all net importers of sugar. The US harvested 406,500 hectares (1,004,600 acres) of sugar beets in 2008. In 2009, sugar beets accounted for 20% of the world's sugar production and nearly 30% by 2013. Sugarcane accounts for most of

4750-449: The United States. About 95% of sugar beet croplands in the US were planted with glyphosate-resistant seed in 2011. Weeds may be chemically controlled using glyphosate without harming the crop. After planting sugar beet seed, weeds emerge in fields and growers apply glyphosate to control them. Glyphosate is commonly used in field crops because it controls a broad spectrum of weed species and has

4845-459: The absence of adequate irrigation, 460 mm (18 inches) of rainfall are necessary to raise an average crop. High winds are harmful, as they generally crust the land and prevent the young beets from coming through the ground. The best results are obtained along the coast of southern California, where warm, sunny days succeeded by cool, foggy nights seem to meet sugar beet's favored growth conditions. Sunshine of long duration but not of great intensity

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4940-413: The back of a cart . Today, mechanical sowing, herbicide application for weed control, and mechanical harvesting have displaced this reliance on manual farm work. A root beater uses a series of blades to chop the leaf and crown (which is high in nonsugar impurities) from the root. The beet harvester lifts the root, and removes excess soil from the root in a single pass over the field. A modern harvester

5035-432: The beets by their leaves, knocked them together to shake free loose soil, and then laid them in a row, root to one side, greens to the other. A second worker equipped with a beet hook (a short-handled tool between a billhook and a sickle ) followed behind, and would lift the beet and swiftly chop the crown and leaves from the root with a single action. Working this way, he would leave a row of beets that could be forked into

5130-434: The beets do not significantly deteriorate. Beets that freeze and then defrost, produce complex carbohydrates that cause severe production problems in the factory. In the UK, loads may be hand examined at the factory gate before being accepted. In the US, the fall harvest begins with the first hard frost, which arrests photosynthesis and the further growth of the root. Depending on the local climate, it may be carried out over

5225-433: The bond between them being an acetal bond which can be broken by an acid. Given (higher) heats of combustion of 1349.6 kcal/mol for sucrose, 673.0 for glucose, and 675.6 for fructose, hydrolysis releases about 1.0 kcal (4.2 kJ) per mole of sucrose, or about 3 small calories per gram of product. The biosynthesis of sucrose proceeds via the precursors UDP-glucose and fructose 6-phosphate , catalyzed by

5320-419: The brand name Kobba Libre . The second method to produce alcohol from sugar beet is to ferment the sugar beet themselves. I.e. without attempting to produce sugar. The idea to distill sugar from the beet came up soon after the first beet sugar factory was established. Between 1852 and 1854 Champonnois devised a good system to distill alcohol from sugar beet. Within a few years a large sugar distilling industry

5415-433: The course of a few weeks or be prolonged throughout the winter months. The harvest and processing of the beet is referred to as "the campaign", reflecting the organization required to deliver the crop at a steady rate to processing factories that run 24 hours a day for the duration of the harvest and processing (for the UK, the campaign lasts about five months). In the Netherlands, this period is known as de bietencampagne ,

5510-404: The earliest historical mentions of sugar cane is included along with the fact that their knowledge of sugar cane was derived from India . By about 500 BCE, residents of modern-day India began making sugar syrup, cooling it in large flat bowls to produce raw sugar crystals that were easier to store and transport. In the local Indian language, these crystals were called khanda ( खण्ड ), which

5605-446: The earth during the process of growth. A hard subsoil is impervious to water and prevents proper drainage. It should not be too loose, however, as this allows the water to pass through more freely than is desirable. Ideally, the soil should be deep, fairly fine and easily penetrable by the roots. It should also be capable of retaining moisture and at the same time admit of a free circulation of air and good drainage. Sugar beet crops exhaust

5700-691: The east. In June 1996, the Shasta Sunset Dinner Train started service with the two renovated passenger cars serving Saturday nights. The new operation got a huge boost almost immediately when Malcolm Glover, a McCloud native who had become a popular reporter in San Francisco , penned a glowing review of the dinner train in one of the city's papers . In the article, Glover, writing for the San Francisco Gate, stated, "In two beautifully renovated 1916 passenger / diner cars, guests are treated to

5795-450: The effect that many former purchasers of sugar have switched to corn syrup (beverage manufacturers) or moved out of the country (candy manufacturers). The low prices of glucose syrups produced from wheat and corn ( maize ) threaten the traditional sugar market. Used in combination with artificial sweeteners , they can allow drink manufacturers to produce very low-cost goods. Since the 6th century BCE, cane sugar producers have crushed

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5890-480: The end he selected a local strain from Halberstadt in modern-day Saxony-Anhalt , Germany. Moritz Baron von Koppy and his son further selected white, conical tubers from this strain. The selection was named weiße schlesische Zuckerrübe , meaning white Silesian sugar beet. In about 1800, this cultivar boasted about 5–6% sucrose by (dry) weight. It would go on to be the progenitor of all modern sugar beets. The plant breeding process has continued since then, leading to

5985-406: The enzyme sucrose-6-phosphate synthase . The energy for the reaction is gained by the cleavage of uridine diphosphate (UDP). Sucrose is formed by plants, algae and cyanobacteria but not by other organisms . Sucrose is the end product of photosynthesis and is found naturally in many food plants along with the monosaccharide fructose. In many fruits, such as pineapple and apricot , sucrose

6080-460: The first commercial production started in 1879 at a farm in Alvarado, California . The sugar beet was introduced to Chile by German settlers around 1850. The sugar beet, like sugarcane , needs a particular soil and a proper climate for its successful cultivation. The most important requirements are that the soil must contain a large supply of nutrients, be rich in humus , and be able to contain

6175-521: The freight trains on the railroad losing money consistently since the 1990s. On June 27, 2005, the railroad applied with the Surface Transportation Board to abandon all MCR track beyond 3.3 miles (5.3 km) east of McCloud. With the abandonment of the Burney branch and the mainline to Bartle and Hambone, the dinner train ceased operations east of McCloud and only ran trains to Mt. Shasta City. With

6270-465: The harvested vegetable material from sugarcane in order to collect and filter the juice. They then treat the liquid, often with lime ( calcium oxide ), to remove impurities and then neutralize it. Boiling the juice then allows the sediment to settle to the bottom for dredging out, while the scum rises to the surface for skimming off. In cooling, the liquid crystallizes, usually in the process of stirring, to produce sugar crystals. Centrifuges usually remove

6365-435: The land must be properly prepared. Deep ploughing is the first principle of beet culture. It allows the roots to penetrate the subsoil without much obstruction, thereby preventing the beet from growing out of the ground, besides enabling it to extract considerable nourishment and moisture from the lower soil. If the latter is too hard, the roots will not penetrate it readily and, as a result, the plant will be pushed up and out of

6460-529: The leaves (with 25% protein) are fed to cattle. Although long considered toxic to cattle, harvested beet bulbs can be fed to cattle if they are appropriately transitioned to their new diet. Dairy cattle in New Zealand can thrive on just pasture and beets, without silage or other supplementary feed. The crop is also now grown in some parts of Australia as cattle feed. Molasses can serve to produce monosodium glutamate (MSG). Sugar beets are an important part of

6555-690: The leaves and beet yellows virus . Continual research looks for varieties with resistance, as well as increased sugar yield. Sugar beet breeding research in the United States is most prominently conducted at various USDA Agricultural Research Stations, including one in Fort Collins, Colorado , headed by Linda Hanson and Leonard Panella; one in Fargo, North Dakota , headed by John Wieland; and one at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan , headed by Rachel Naegele. Other economically important members of

6650-410: The liquid, which gets recycled in the crystalliser stages. When economic constraints prevent the removal of more sugar, the manufacturer discards the remaining liquid, now known as molasses , or sells it on to producers of animal feed. Sieving the resultant white sugar produces different grades for selling. It is difficult to distinguish between fully refined sugar produced from beet and cane. One way

6745-703: The long summer days from the relatively high latitude (the Lower Peninsula , where production is concentrated, lies between the 41st and 46th parallels North) and the influence of the Great Lakes result in satisfactory climatic conditions for sugar beet culture. Sebewaing, Michigan , lies in the Thumb region of Michigan; both the region and state are major sugar beet producers. Sebewaing is home to one of four Michigan Sugar Company factories. The town sponsors an annual Michigan Sugar Festival. To cultivate beets successfully,

6840-402: The manner that glucose and other reducing sugars do. Since sucrose contains no anomeric hydroxyl groups, it is classified as a non- reducing sugar . Sucrose crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2 1 with room-temperature lattice parameters a = 1.08631 nm, b = 0.87044 nm, c = 0.77624 nm, β = 102.938°. The purity of sucrose is measured by polarimetry , through

6935-680: The other hand, grow only in cooler temperate regions and do not tolerate extreme heat . About 80 percent of sucrose is derived from sugarcane, the rest almost all from sugar beets. In mid-2018, India and Brazil had about the same production of sugar – 34 million tonnes – followed by the European Union , Thailand , and China as the major producers. India, the European Union, and China were the leading domestic consumers of sugar in 2018. Beet sugar comes from regions with cooler climates: northwest and eastern Europe, northern Japan, plus some areas in

7030-401: The presence of hardpan , is not desirable, as cultivation to a depth of from 12 to 15 inches (30 to 38 cm) is necessary to produce the best results. Climatic conditions, temperature, sunshine, rainfall and winds have an important bearing upon the success of sugar beet agriculture. A temperature ranging from 15 to 21 °C (59 to 70 °F) during the growing months is most favorable. In

7125-433: The production of sugar beet. As a result, some countries that traditionally produced cane sugar (such as Egypt ) have built new beet sugar factories since about 2008. Some sugar factories process both sugar cane and sugar beets and extend their processing period in that way. The production of sugar leaves residues that differ substantially depending on the raw materials used and on the place of production. While cane molasses

7220-584: The railroad's open air passenger cars attached to the train during the summer months and the all heavyweight consist during the winter due to the snowy weather in and around Mt. Shasta . After the expansion in passenger cars, the dinner train ran more frequently with Thursday and Friday nights in the summer. At certain times during the year, the railroad would also have a theme to some of the dinner trains like western music or melodrama. The dinner train also ran Mother's Day, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, and 4th of July trains. The Shasta Sunset Dinner Train's revenue

7315-510: The resistance gene Rz2 in the wild progenitor. Rz2 confers resistance to rhizomania, commonly known as the sugar beet root madness disease. Sugar beets have been bred for increased sugar content, from 8% to 18% in the 200 years up to 2013 , resistance to viral and fungal diseases, increased taproot size, monogermy , and less bolting . Breeding has been eased by discovery of a cytoplasmic male sterility line – this has especially been useful in yield breeding. Sucrose Sucrose ,

7410-402: The rest of sugar produced globally . In February 2015, a USDA factsheet reported that sugar beets generally account for about 55 percent of domestically produced sugar, and sugar cane for about 45 percent. The sugar beet has a conical, white, fleshy root (a taproot ) with a flat crown. The plant consists of the root and a rosette of leaves. Sugar is formed by photosynthesis in the leaves and

7505-471: The rotation of plane-polarized light by a sugar solution. The specific rotation at 20 °C (68 °F) using yellow "sodium-D" light (589 nm) is +66.47°. Commercial samples of sugar are assayed using this parameter. Sucrose does not deteriorate at ambient conditions. Sucrose does not melt at high temperatures. Instead, it decomposes at 186 °C (367 °F) to form caramel . Like other carbohydrates , it combusts to carbon dioxide and water by

7600-451: The ruling. In July 2012, after completing an environmental impact assessment and a plant pest risk assessment the USDA deregulated Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets. The sugar beet genome shares a triplication event somewhere super-Caryophyllales and at or sub- Eudicots . It has been sequenced and two reference genome sequences have already been generated. The genome size of the sugar beet

7695-463: The simplified equation: C 12 H 22 O 11 + 12 O 2 → 12 CO 2 + 11 H 2 O Mixing sucrose with the oxidizer potassium nitrate produces the fuel known as rocket candy that is used to propel amateur rocket motors. C 12 H 22 O 11 + 6 KNO 3 → 9 CO + 3 N 2 + 11 H 2 O + 3 K 2 CO 3 This reaction is somewhat simplified though. Some of the carbon does get fully oxidized to carbon dioxide, and other reactions, such as

7790-527: The soil rapidly. Crop rotation is recommended and necessary. Normally, beets are grown in the same ground every third year, peas, beans or grain being raised the other two years. In most temperate climates, beets are planted in the spring and harvested in the autumn. At the northern end of its range, growing seasons as short as 100 days can produce commercially viable sugar beet crops. In warmer climates, such as in California 's Imperial Valley , sugar beets are

7885-531: The source of process heat. During the same century, Europeans began experimenting with sugar production from other crops. Andreas Marggraf identified sucrose in beet root and his student Franz Achard built a sugar beet processing factory in Silesia (Prussia). The beet-sugar industry took off during the Napoleonic Wars , when France and the continent were cut off from Caribbean sugar. In 2009, about 20 percent of

7980-560: The subfamily Chenopodioideae : In the United States, genetically modified sugar beets, engineered for resistance to glyphosate , a herbicide marketed as Roundup, were developed by Monsanto as a genetically modified crop . In 2005, the US Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service ( USDA - APHIS ) deregulated glyphosate-resistant sugar beets after it conducted an environmental assessment and determined glyphosate-resistant sugar beets were highly unlikely to become

8075-449: The sucrose in plants and for some it is their main food source. Although honeybees consume sucrose, the honey they produce consists primarily of fructose and glucose, with only trace amounts of sucrose. As fruits ripen, their sucrose content usually rises sharply, but some fruits contain almost no sucrose at all. This includes grapes, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, figs, pomegranates, tomatoes, avocados, lemons and limes. Sucrose

8170-399: The sugar beet crop, such as pulp and molasses , add another 10% to the value of the harvest. Sugar beets grow exclusively in the temperate zone, in contrast to sugarcane , which grows exclusively in the tropical and subtropical zones. The average weight of a sugar beet ranges between 0.5 and 1 kg (1.1 and 2.2 lb). Sugar beet foliage has a rich, brilliant green color and grows to

8265-451: The uncrystallized syrup. The producers can then either sell the sugar product for use as is, or process it further to produce lighter grades. The later processing may take place in another factory in another country. Sugarcane is a major component of Brazilian agriculture; the country is the world's largest producer of sugarcane and its derivative products, such as crystallized sugar and ethanol ( ethanol fuel ). Beet sugar producers slice

8360-470: The unstable financial situation of the McCloud Railway, the train was the railroad's only source of revenue. Unfortunately, because of the Great Recession had passenger numbers plummeting. Ridership, which had been at or above 15,000 people per year, took a nosedive to only 8,000 people in 2008, and by the middle months of 2009, the railroad foresaw only 6,500 people would show up that year to ride. Thus,

8455-401: The washed beets, then extract the sugar with hot water in a " diffuser ". An alkaline solution (" milk of lime " and carbon dioxide from the lime kiln) then serves to precipitate impurities (see carbonatation ). After filtration, evaporation concentrates the juice to a content of about 70% solids, and controlled crystallisation extracts the sugar. A centrifuge removes the sugar crystals from

8550-448: The world's sugar was produced from beets. Today, a large beet refinery producing around 1,500 tonnes of sugar a day needs a permanent workforce of about 150 for 24-hour production. Table sugar (sucrose) comes from plant sources. Two important sugar crops predominate: sugarcane ( Saccharum spp. ) and sugar beets ( Beta vulgaris ), in which sugar can account for 12% to 20% of the plant's dry weight. Minor commercial sugar crops include

8645-481: The α form. Fructose exists as a mixture of five tautomers but sucrose has only the β- D -fructofuranose form. Unlike most disaccharides , the glycosidic bond in sucrose is formed between the reducing ends of both glucose and fructose, and not between the reducing end of one and the non-reducing end of the other. This linkage inhibits further bonding to other saccharide units, and prevents sucrose from spontaneously reacting with cellular and circulatory macromolecules in

8740-532: Was 60.8 tonnes per hectare . The most productive sugar beet farms in the world, in 2022, were in Chile , with a nationwide average yield of 106.2 tonnes per hectare. Imperial Valley (California) farmers have achieved yields of about 160 tonnes per hectare and over 26 tonnes sugar per hectare. Imperial Valley farms benefit from high intensities of incident sunlight and intensive use of irrigation and fertilizers. Most sugar beet are used to create white sugar . This

8835-526: Was coined in 1860 by the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot . Saccharose is an obsolete name for sugars in general, especially sucrose. In sucrose, the monomers glucose and fructose are linked via an ether bond between C1 on the glucosyl subunit and C2 on the fructosyl unit. The bond is called a glycosidic linkage . Glucose exists predominantly as a mixture of α and β "pyranose" anomers , but sucrose has only

8930-532: Was created in France. The current process to produce alcohol by fermenting and distilling sugar beet consists of these steps: Large sugar beet distilleries remain limited to Europe. In 2023 Tereos had 8 beet sugar distilleries, located in France, Czechia and Romania. In many European countries rectified spirit from sugar beet is used to make Liquor , e.g. vodka , Gin etc.. An unrefined sugary syrup can be produced directly from sugar beet. This thick, dark syrup

9025-402: Was the greatest asset to the McCloud Railway. This was because of the declining revenue of freight trains and the little money made from the steam excursions with McCloud River Railroad #25 and McCloud River Railroad #18 in addition with the diesel locomotives hauling some of the other excursions. By the early 2000s, the Shasta Sunset Dinner Train had ended services to Bartle. This was due to

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