Sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris, fam. Chenopodiaceae) is a biennial herbaceous plant, with large leaves and a large fleshy root from which sucrose is extracted.
| Sweetening power of various sugars based on cane or beet sugar | |
| Fructose | 173 |
| Invert sugar | 130 |
| Sugar, cane or beetroot | 100 |
| Grape sugar | 74 |
| Glucose syrup | 50 |
| Lactose | 16 |
| Sorbitol | 54 |
| Xilite | 90-110 |
It produces sugar already during the first year of growth; it is sown in spring and harvested in autumn / first winter. If not collected, during the second year the nutrients present in the root are used by the plant to produce seeds and flowers.
As for sugar cane there are many cultivars.
The sugar content in the mature beet is about 17% of its weight, but even in this case this value is very variable. The percentage of sucrose is therefore greater compared to sugar cane, but the yields per hectare are still lower; in fact, the production of sucrose from beet is around seven tons per hectare, compared to ten for sugar cane.
Cane sugar
Sugar cane
