A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet. 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.
Sugar beet, illustration of root, leaf, and flowering patterns
A geneticist evaluates sugar beet plants
French sugar beet mill in operation in the 1840s
A sugar beet farm in Switzerland
Sucrose, 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 C12H22O11.
A sugarloaf was a traditional form for sugar from the 17th to 19th centuries. Sugar nips were required to break off pieces.
A table sugar factory in England. The tall diffusers are visible to the middle left where the harvest transforms into a sugar syrup. The boiler and furnace are in the center, where table sugar crystals form. An expressway for transport is visible in the lower left.
Harvested sugarcane from Venezuela ready for processing
Sugar beets
