The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: RUSTYME on April 17, 2014, 04:46:23 pm
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Nearly ready to sow my sugarbeet for this year .
I go through 2lb of sugar per week , but i do walk 6 miles per day, everyday , plus i dig the plot etc for 1-2 hours per day , carry water , (20 x 3 gal buckets) 100 yds from the river to water the veg and for the horses , cut wood , carry stones etc , so i reckon i burn off 99.9% of the calories .
So , to get my 2lb per week fix i need to process 22lb of sugarbeet per week , that's 10-15 beets , if i get 10% of the 18% sugar available in them .
I hour of boiling ( rolling boil ) strain and then simmer to reduce , then spread and cool the syrup and then crush the crystalized syrup and i have brown sugar .
To get white refined sugar you need to add a chemical and then use a centrifuge to get the rest of the molasses out . I don't want to use the chemical ( can't remember which one ) , and i don't have a centrifuge , or the leccy to run one , so brown sugar will do me .
I hope to get more bees again , and will sow some stevia plants , so i will have an alternative to sugar beet for my sugar , just as well , as i would need to grow 1000 beets otherwise . Mind you , the remaining 90% of the beet after processing out the sugar is animal feed .
I will most likely grow a couple of ton next year , but not in the veg plot , for stock feed , and my sugar as an asside .
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Sweet cicely can be used for sweetening, too - but it does have an aniseedy flavour...
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Oooh , not sure if i could keep that mix down for long , aniseed and coffee ? lol . I do like aniseed though , so worth thinking about Ina
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Yeah, depends on what you use it for. I've had it in my last garden and used it for rhubarb on occasion. Don't have any now, should really get myself some more...