Running Head: BEET VS.

CANE

Sugar Production: Beet vs. Cane

Kerry Nefferdorf
CIV

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Sugar Production: Beet vs. Cane

Worldwide, 65% of sugar comes from sugar cane, while 35% comes from sugar beets. In
America, sugar beets account for 50-55% of sugar production. The sucrose in both kinds of
sugar is chemically identical, and sucrose accounts for 99.95% of sugars makeup. As miniscule
as it may seem, that .05% difference in trace minerals and proteins can make a big difference in
the way sugar reacts in the bakeshop.
In 1999, the San Francisco Chronicle performed a blind taste test of cookies, cake, and
crme brule made with cane and beet sugars. In every case, the cane sugar came out on top.
Differences were apparent in crumb structure, appearance and flavor. The crme brule was the
most affected by the difference in sugar, as beet sugar burned before it could caramelize properly.
(Morgan, 1999)
The most notable differences were between brown cane sugar and brown beet sugar, most
likely because these two products are produced so differently. Brown sugar contains molasses, a
natural component of sugar cane that is produced during the sugar-refining process. Beet
molasses exists, but it is inedible for humans, and so to make brown beet sugar, cane molasses is
added to refined white beet sugar. The process is called painting, and the molasses coats the
granules rather than penetrating them. This causes brown beet sugar to act very differently from
brown cane sugar.
So why do we bother with beet sugar at all? As always, the answer lies in economics. Beet
sugar is less expensive to produce, as it requires only one refining process, at one refining plant.
Cane sugar requires two. Sugar beets are also grown in eleven states, while sugar cane can only
grow in four. Sugar beets grow in more temperate climates and use far less water than sugar

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cane. On the other hand, 95% of the sugar beets grown in the US are genetically modified to be
resistant to Monsantos Roundup herbicide organic beet sugar does not exist.
Before the 1800s, all table sugar came from sugar cane. The sucrose content of sugar
beets was discovered in the mid 1700s by German chemist Andreas Margraff, but beet sugar
production didnt catch on until the Napoleonic Wars. An English Blockade cut off the European
supply of sugar cane from the West Indies, and it became necessary to cultivate a local source of
sugar.
Sugar cane, however, is not native to the West Indies. It originated in New Guinea around
10,000 years ago, where it was eaten raw. It spread slowly from island to island and arrived in
Asia around 1000 BC. 500 years later, it was being ground into a powder in India. Sugar spread
along with Islam and became known to Europeans during the Crusades. From that point on,
sugar was considered a spice in Europe and obtained through trade. When trade with the East
became difficult due to the spread of the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s, Europeans sought out
new sources for sugar.
It was around this time that the New World was discovered and island after island in the
Caribbean was conquered, cleared, and planted with sugar cane. As sugar cane became more
plentiful, it evolved from a rare spice available only to the aristocracy, into an essential
foodstuff. In 1700, the average Englishman consumed 4 pounds of sugar each year. Two
hundred years later, that number had increased 25-fold to 100 pounds per year.
The benefits of cane vs. beet sugar are difficult to work out. Environmentally, it depends
on what your priorities are. Would you rather support a crop that uses less water and requires
less processing and transportation? Or would you prefer one that can be grown organically, with
non-genetically modified varieties? While the environmental picture is cloudy, from a quality

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standpoint, the choice is clear: where recipes have been developed for cane sugar (which is pretty
much everywhere), cane sugar must be used for the best results.

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Harveson,R.M.(2014).HistoryofSugarbeetProductionandUse.Retrieved0326,2015,from
UniversityofNebraskaLincolnCropWatch:
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/sugarbeets/sugarbeet_history
Morgan,M.(1999,0331).SUGAR,SUGAR/Caneandbeetsharethesamechemistrybutact
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