How to get sugar from sugar beets at home. What types of root vegetables are used to make a sweet product?

Many modern people are accustomed to drinking sweet tea and adding sweets to cakes, pastries, and cereals. At the same time, some people think about how to make sugar, what is needed for this and how difficult it is. How is sugar made from beets and cane? When producing this product on an industrial scale, you cannot do without complex equipment, but at home everything can be done much easier. But such a process is undoubtedly very labor-intensive. Few people produce sugar on their own when it can be bought in a store. However, it's still worth a try. It is better to choose beets as a raw material, since cane is more expensive and difficult to prepare for extracting the necessary substances at home. Previously, special devices were used for these purposes, with the help of which it was possible to knead the raw materials by passing the stems between the rollers. Cane is also less available than sugar beets.

How is sugar made from beets? Experts assure that there are several ways to produce a high-quality product. The simplest of them is drying. Sugar beets must be washed, cut into thin circles and placed in a clay pot or cast iron, then add a little water and put in the oven to simmer at a temperature of about 90 degrees for 40 minutes. The vegetable should become soft, but not boiled. In the old days, housewives simmered beets in a Russian oven. Next, you need to remove the circles from the pot and place them on a baking sheet. Beets need to be dried at a temperature of about 50 degrees. This process can take quite a long time. You can speed it up by drying the raw materials in a special electric dryer. This device provides forced ventilation. Its use allows you to save not only time, but also energy, which is very important for most families.

Dried rounds can be ground into flour and added to various dishes. If you need to sweeten your tea, it is permissible to dip whole pieces of beets into the drink. The above method of preparing sugar is very popular among fans of natural food. How is sugar made from beets and beet syrup? It turns out that this is also possible at home. First, you need to wash the vegetables and put them in a deep saucepan and add water. It is recommended to boil the beets for an hour, then drain the water, cool the semi-finished product, peel it and cut it into thin strips, then squeeze out the juice. To do this, you can use gauze or a special press. The collected liquid must be poured into a saucepan and evaporated over low heat. If done correctly, the consistency of the syrup should resemble molasses. To store sugar for future use, you need to evaporate the syrup thoroughly so that it does not ferment during long-term storage.

How is sugar made from beets without pre-cooking? To do this, you need to peel the root vegetables, cut them into thin strips, place them in a saucepan, pour boiling water over them, cover with a lid and let it brew for an hour. Only after this will it be possible to drain the water, squeeze the juice out of the beets and begin evaporation. After the syrup becomes viscous and thick, you can pour it into jars or make real sugar from it. To do this, the product must be sharply cooled so that the crystallization process occurs. For these purposes, it is best to use special metal forms with partitions. The syrup needs to be poured into the cells of the molds, and then put in a cool place. After crystallization, the sugar should be knocked out and stored in pieces or ground. For these purposes, you can use a coffee grinder or mortar. Some housewives prefer to make lump sugar and crush it immediately before use.

How do you make sugar from beets using special equipment? If you want or need to produce sugar yourself regularly, it is best to purchase a special tank with a grate. This will help save time and your own efforts. Such tanks are also equipped with taps at the bottom of the tank. The grill is necessary to ensure that the beets do not come into contact with the bottom of the pan. Preparing syrup in such vats is very simple. You need to pour some water on the bottom. The liquid should reach the level of the grate. Plant materials should be placed on a sieve and steamed for the required time. Next, you need to drain the liquid by opening the tap, pass the beets through the press and pour the juice into the tank. Evaporating liquid in such a large pan is very convenient. At the end of the process, you can drain the syrup through the tap directly into metal molds or special jars. Molds should only be used if crystallization is required.

Homemade beet sugar has certain disadvantages. In this case, there is no refining process and the product is obtained with a specific smell. Not everyone likes it when sugar smells like beets. It is quite difficult to get rid of such an aroma, but you can muffle it by adding a little citric acid to the syrup. Some housewives prefer to pass the liquid through a carbon filter, and only then begin evaporation. Carbon cleaners are commercially available. If you plan to make sugar regularly, it makes sense to purchase a filter or make one yourself. The refining process is quite complex and it is simply impossible to do it at home. That is why homemade sugar differs from industrially produced sugar not only in smell, but also in its rather dark shade.

Sugar is rapidly becoming more expensive. It’s spring now, so I’m considering the option of growing sugar beets to produce sugar at home. This sugar will be an excellent substitute for regular store-bought sugar for any jams and preserved sweets. Easy to “obtain” and easy to use, as well as significant savings for the family budget, especially if there is a piece of land where you can plant it now to get your sugar in the fall.

OBTAINING REFINED SUGAR FROM SUGAR BEET AT HOME

The beets are thoroughly washed at a temperature of 12 degrees, the tops and small roots are removed, peeled, cut into thin circles and placed tightly in a clay pot, put in the oven to simmer until they become soft, but do not allow them to burn. The drained circles are lightly browned to eliminate the beetroot smell and prolonged stagnation. Then grind into flour. Sugar content 50%.
BEET SYRUP. - when washing beets, do not damage the skin, then put it in a bad bowl with boiling water for 1 hour, remove the boiled beets from the water, allow to cool and remove the skin, pass through a meat grinder and squeeze out the juice very carefully. The squeezed beet mass is placed in a bowl with water at a temperature of 60 degrees (proportion 1:1), placed and allowed to stand for 2 hours, the solution is filtered through 2-3 layers of gauze and mixed with the squeezed juice. The solution is heated to 80 degrees for 1 hour, and a precipitate forms, which is also filtered.
The juice is purified from non-sugar substances by passing through a Rodnichek carbon filter at a rate of no more than 0.5 liters per minute. For better cleaning, pass it 2 times, even better is a 0.2% lime solution (used in factories) for 2 hours, then the precipitate that forms is filtered i; passed through a carbon filter. If you don’t have a “Rodnichek” carbon filter, you can use the old “old-fashioned” method to prepare birch charcoal - when the coals are very hot and have already crumbled into small pieces, they are placed in a clay pot, the ash is carefully blown off from them, and the coals are broken into small pieces -2 mm) pour the coals into a suitable container with a hole for draining the syrup so that the swelling rate is 0.5 liters per minute. For a liter of coals, you can add 2 teaspoons of dried 3-color violet corn. The purified syrup is boiled in an enamel bowl according to the principle of cooking jam, avoiding burning, 2-3 times. ] a liter of syrup contains 700-850 g. Sahara. -
Syrup can be boiled in a juicer or pressure cooker, and the color is lighter than when boiled in a basin. The condensed syrup is cooled, bottled, tightly closed and stored in a cool place until used. The syrup can be used in the preparation of compotes, jelly, g.jure, marmalade, confectionery, and cookies. You just need 30% more of it than the amount of sugar indicated in the recipe. The original aroma and taste is given to the syrup by citric acid (per 1 kg of preparation), raspberry juice, chokeberry, red currant, as well as various herbs, mint, lemon balm and others. The syrup is converted into a solid state in the following way: hot syrup is poured into flat trusses, which are placed in running cold water; at STOW, the syrup quickly crystallizes. If you need to extract granulated sugar, then it is ground. To make jam, use 1.3-1.8 kg. per 1 kg. berries
During the production of sugar, waste remains in the form of pulp and water from the beets. The presses are placed in this water and 0.1% yeast is added and placed in a warm place for fermentation for 5-7 days, resulting in a strong drink.

The beets we are used to have a variety that is processed on an industrial scale. Today Russia occupies a leading position in the production of sugar from beets. How is the sugar beet product produced and can it be prepared at home?

From cane to beets

The history of obtaining sugar from plants goes back centuries. For a long time it was produced from sugar cane. In the mid-18th century, scientist A. Marggraff, during a study, discovered that the same sugar was contained in beets. The answer to the question of how much sugar is in beets has changed. At that time, its content in sugar beets did not exceed 1.3%. But breeders have developed varieties with 20 percent sugar in sugar beets.

The history of sugar beet processing in Russia began in the 19th century and continues to this day.

Industrial sugar production

Sugar beet processing and sugar production technology at the plant is a complex and fully automated process. It begins outside the walls of the plant, when the grown vegetables are collected and loaded into cars. Trucks bring raw materials and, after weighing, unload them into a special compartment. From here, the beets will go along a conveyor belt into the bowels of the plant, from which they will emerge in the form of several products: sugar, molasses, cake and fertilizer.

The next stage is cleaning the root crops from soil and tops. They are washed for a long time in special sinks, after which they are sent to the workshop for cutting. Here the unit turns the beets into smooth chips, after which they continue their journey - they move into the diffusion apparatus. This is an important stage of processing when, during the process of washing with water, beet chips saturate the water with sugar. The spent cake is gradually released from processing and sent to feed livestock. And the juice continues to be processed.

The process becomes more complicated. The task is to remove impurities from the juice that interfere with the crystallization of sugar. Milk of lime is added to the juice, which, after heating, precipitates unwanted impurities.

Next, the purified juice is evaporated to form sugar syrup. It is filtered and concentrated in special devices. But that's not all. The resulting granulated sugar is separated from the molasses in centrifuges. To make it white, it is washed and dried. The last stage is packaging. In the process of complex processing, the yield of sugar from one ton of root vegetables is 100-150 kg.

When buying sugar in a store, pay attention to what, by whom and when it was made. All information must be on the label. You should refuse to purchase if genetically modified beets were used in production. Buyers may be wary of sulfur dioxide, but any sugar production is essential.

Home production

You can independently obtain a natural product without harmful impurities. Let's look at how to make sugar syrup at home.

Cook the washed root vegetables for an hour in an enamel bowl, maintaining a boiling temperature. After cooling, peel and cut into thin strips. We wrap the chopped root vegetables in gauze and place them under a press to squeeze out the juice. We take the cake out from under the press and fill it with hot water in a ratio of one to two. Let it sit for half an hour, filter the liquid and add the previously squeezed juice to it. We heat it to 70-80 degrees, after which we begin to evaporate. Evaporation should result in sugar syrup.

You can get thick beet syrup in another way, but this requires an autoclave or a boiler with a grate at the bottom. First, boil the beets in the same way and peel them. Next, to steam, place it in an autoclave for an hour. Chop soft root vegetables and press twice. The juice obtained in the process of two pressings is evaporated.

Beetroot syrup can be used to make jam and baked goods. It is better to store it in sealed jars in a dark and cool place.

By making beetroot syrup at home, you will be confident in its composition.

Contrary to popular belief, sugar does not grow on trees. That's right, it comes from the store, in paper or plastic bags :-)

So:
Sugar is made either from cane or sugar beets.
Cane does not grow here, so raw sugar is brought to us from Brazil and Cuba. Brown like that. For what? Because there are no processing plants there, they eat it and generally don’t bother. I don’t know why brown raw cane sugar is bad, I don’t eat it at all. :-)

I’m telling you about our version, beetroot.

It all starts in a clean, open field. The field is called kagatny. A pile is such a hellish pile of sugar beets, it looks something like this:

The first thing I asked was, “Well, they piled up heaps in the middle of the field, what’s the joke?”
It turned out that everything is not so simple: the heaps are piled in a strictly defined order, in long paths, like coke is poured :-) Moreover, the technology of piling is also enchanting: a 10-ton Kamaz arrives, drives into the field and climbs onto a special bead-laying machine (BOOM), after whereupon a special inclined platform tilts the KamAZ 45 degrees and pours beets out of it into itself. After which he cheerfully throws it into a pile with a conveyor. The fields occupy many, many hectares.

But that is not all. There are burrows between the sugar beet coke tracks. That is, concrete trenches are like this. Scientifically, they are called hydraulic conveyors. The technology as a whole is observed by everyone every day in the toilet: throw something brown into the conveyor container and press the drain. Under the influence of the elemental forces of nature, it cheerfully flies into the distance. Accordingly, a powerful bulldozer acts as a source of power. It must be said that the water in the hydraulic conveyor toilet is hot and rushes under strong pressure.

In the background you can already see the production workshops. They are all in a haze of steam, I’ll tell you why further.
All slightly washed beets are washed off there further.

Well, then the technological process begins:
First, they wash everything as they should (sorry about the quality of the photos, I didn’t take a normal camera, everything was filmed on a phone, which a priori cannot take pictures). Here it comes through the conveyor, the stones are separated:

Then everything goes into meat grinders. Ugh, juicers. More precisely, it is cut into small strips, like carrots in Korean. Then this happiness with a cheerful step falls onto the conveyor and goes on, now you need to squeeze the sugar out of it all.

How is sugar extracted from carrots in Korean? It’s very simple - it goes into a huge vat and cooks there. It seems the technologist used the word “separation”. There were a lot of words, including not very decent ones from the series “defecation of the first level.” But I’ll keep silent :) In short, everything is boiled in the vat, the sugar comes out of the straw, and it remains empty. They squeeze it out and it turns out to be a pulp. The pulp is then dried and granulated. Used for making kitiket, whiskey and other crap. Do you think it is made from meat? :))))

The resulting juice is then the raw material. Then chemical production begins: milk of lime is added to the juice, and something else. Plus it heats up. mixed. That's why it's hot. In general, the temperature in the workshops is 40-50 degrees. In summer 60 and above. Upstairs on the upper floors they say in the summer it reaches 100. Sauna.

The different colors in the photo are different factions. The molasses is separated from the syrup and so on.
The sediment is filtered and discarded. All over the world they fertilize the soil. But the Kuban land is already generous.

Filters

Boil again. Pay attention to the inspection hatch, there will be a larger photo there.

It’s big, it’s flowing, it’s already thick. It can be seen that it is brown, i.e. There is still a long way to go to the white sugar that is in stores.

These are the first crystals.

Then it’s easier. We need to get rid of the brown color. Otherwise people won’t be able to eat it normally :-)
Everything is simple here - the brown color is due to molasses. You need to squeeze it out. All crystals are thrown into centrifuges. The sugar stays in, the molasses comes out. It is then further processed so that no sugar remains in the waste. Everything is humane. Here's a centrifuge. In general they are quite big. The white inside is sugar crystals.

Quality is continuously monitored, samples are taken and tested in the laboratory. Everything that is not in accordance with GOST - everything goes back into the vat for remelting :-) In other industries it would be like this.

And then the end appeared... of the technological process. White (already white!) sugar travels further along the conveyor. It is raw, so it needs to be dried. At the bottom of the conveyor there are special containers for sugar traps - from them what spills out is collected, then again for melting. Waste-free production.

Drying in two stages. In drums like these. They are huge, exactly 3 meters in diameter

Do you think that's all? but no... you can’t guess the last technological operation. Next, the resulting sugar - sand is treated with a MAGNET :-) In case something breaks off from the equipment. The magnet catches all the glands, in case they appear there, say, after equipment repairs.

And now some dry facts:
About 6 thousand tons of beets are processed per day.
One ton of beets produces an average of 13-16 kilograms of sugar.

This is such an entertaining excursion.

There are many sweet tooths in the world, and a product such as sugar is almost indispensable in the preparation of various cakes, pastries, cookies and candies. Many craftsmen try to make all the necessary ingredients at home to be sure of the naturalness of the product. You can also make your own sugar at home.

What is sugar?

Sugar is a food product that is obtained from special varieties of cane or beets. It is used in all industries related to the production of dessert treats. Sugar is also used as a preservative and additive in the preparation of semi-finished products and various products.

Despite a number of beneficial properties, excessive consumption of this product can lead to illness. One of these is diabetes. Making sugar is a labor-intensive process and is carried out mainly in large enterprises, but craftsmen make a small amount of homemade product.

Sugar industry

To produce the product in industrial conditions, varieties are used. It is usually purchased from farmers in the fall, when it reaches the peak of maturity and has acquired enough essential microelements. Before starting the process, the raw materials are examined and the amount of sucrose contained is measured.

Next, the beets are washed and cut into small pieces in special machines. To extract sugar from the product, the cut pieces are passed through water at a temperature of 70 degrees. The resulting solution is purified and evaporated, resulting in molasses. It, in turn, is crystallized in a special apparatus and transferred to a centrifuge, where the grains are separated from the remains of the thick syrup.

The output is wet sugar, which still needs to be dried. Next, it is packed into bags and sent to a warehouse.

Raw materials

To make homemade sugar, you need to prepare raw materials. In the regions of Russia and European countries it is easiest to obtain. When purchasing, you need to inspect the root crop, it must be clean, without rot or deep damage. The beets are cleaned from the apical residual leaves and washed thoroughly.

In warm tropical countries, sugar is as common a product as in Russia and Europe. It is obtained from cane, which is also grown on an industrial scale.

Cooking at home

In its usual state, sugar is sand or refined cubes. A sweet product can obtain such a structure only in industrial conditions, when the crystallization process takes place in special machines. Homemade sugar most closely resembles molasses or thick syrup. It can be added to tea or when making any confectionery product.

For the process you need to prepare two enamel pans, several pieces of gauze and a press. As the latter, you can use any container into which you can collect water for weight.

First way

The washed and peeled beets are placed in a pan of boiling water. The root vegetable needs to be cooked for about 1 hour. After this period, the water is drained and the beets are allowed to cool. After which the peel is thinly removed and all the pulp is finely chopped. The finished product is placed in a gauze cloth, folded several times, and placed in a container under a press. The resulting juice is poured into a separate container.

After some time, the remaining cake is again placed in the pan and filled with water. The volume of liquid should be half the volume of beets. The water must be heated. Infuse the grated root vegetable this way for 45 minutes, then place it in a colander over a container where the juice is collected.

Place the beets again in gauze and place under the press. The newly separated liquid is mixed with that already obtained and filtered. Next, as in large production, it is necessary to evaporate excess moisture. To do this, place the pan with the juice on the fire and evaporate to a thick syrup. This homemade sugar recipe is the most common and simple.

Second way

The beets must be washed and the outer skin removed. Next, the fruits are placed in a pressure cooker. There, the root crop should simmer under a pressure of 1.5 atmospheres for about 60-80 minutes. After the beets have cooled, they must be chopped and placed in a gauze cloth under a press.

As a result, the resulting liquid is filtered and put to evaporation. The process continues until the liquid acquires the consistency of honey. This sugar can be poured into sterilized jars and stored for the winter. It is used like a regular product, adding it to teas and various foods when cooking.

Properties

Sugar is the so-called sucrose, which is found in many vegetables and fruits. In small doses, this product has a beneficial effect on the human body, stimulating blood circulation in the brain and spinal cord. But do not forget that excessive consumption of sweets such as cakes, candies, chocolate and the like can lead to diseases.