Beet sugar: what food and beverage manufacturers need to know 

Beet sugar is one source of white crystalline sucrose, or table sugar, an ingredient used in many everyday food and beverage applications. Many of Ragus’ own speciality syrups and crystallines derive from beet sugar. In this article, we explain what beet sugar is, how it is made, what food and beverage manufacturers should know about beet sugar, and its typical applications.  

In the UK, sugar beet is grown mainly in East Anglia and the East Midlands. The country has around 2,500 growers who deliver the beets to four sugar factories for processing. The process of producing sugar from beet is largely sustainable, and 99% of the crop is used, including the pulp, leaves and water (the root contains around 75% water).

Sugar beet is used to produce a variety of refined sugar products, including white granulated sugar or another crystalline like soft brown light sugar. The beet sugar in these products starts life in the ground. Each beet contains approximately 16-18% sucrose, and this sucrose is stored in the tissues inside the plant’s thick tap root. 

The beet is generally sown in the spring. On average, it takes seven months for the beets to mature, and they can grow as large as 300mm long and weigh up to 2kg. The harvest season begins in autumn and continues through the winter before ending the following March. At harvesting time, the beet is defoliated before a harvester plucks the roots from the soil. The beets are then placed in a pile known as a clamp, loaded onto lorries, and taken to the sugar factory for processing.  

At the factory, the beet is sliced into strips to make it easier to extract the sugar. The strips are placed in a diffuser with hot water before a screw press is used to extract the juice. Any excess juice not used for sugar may be dried to form pellets and sold as cattle feed.  

The juice undergoes multiple stages of evaporation where the water is boiled off to turn it from a juice into a concentrated syrup. The syrup is seeded with sugar crystals, and these are allowed to grow and develop. The mixture that remains is spun in a centrifuge to separate the liquid from the crystals. Hot hair dries the crystals, and they are sieved and packaged, ready for delivery.  

Beet sugar comes from the sugar beet plant, and cane sugar comes from the sugarcane plant. Sugarcane is the world’s primary source for sugar, with 80% of sugar produced globally coming from sugarcane.  

Multiple sugar products manufactured and supplied by Ragus are, or can be, derived from beet sugar. For example, our:  

Soft brown light sugar is made from either sugar beet or sugarcane. The base sugar is blended with a refiner’s syrup and treacle blend, which gives this crystalline its colour, texture and flavour.

Dark soft brown sugar can also be made from sugar beet or sugarcane. The base sugar is then blended with a sugarcane molasses syrup and treacle blend. The molasses informs the colour and builds a richer flavour. As this product contains sugarcane molasses, it is considered a beet and cane blend.

Liquid sugar can be made from either beet sugar or cane sugar. When made with beet sugar, a white refined beet sugar is mixed with water and heated until the sugar has dissolved. Learn more about the process of using beet sugar to make liquid sugar.

Invert sugar syrup is made by heating white sucrose, made from either beet or cane, with water in inversion pans. Ragus produces two types of invert sugar syrup: fully inverted sugar syrup and partially inverted sugar syrup. A well-known example of the latter is golden syrup. 

Beet sugar products are used extensively in food and beverage manufacturing, primarily as a sweetener. But beet sugar products perform many functional roles. For example, liquid sugar is often used as a bulking agent in dairy products and sauces, but it may be used as a sweetener and for mouthfeel in cola drinks.  

Invert sugar syrup is a humectant ingredient that helps to prolong the shelf life of products such as ice cream, but it also improves mouthfeel and flavour in beer and shortens the fermentation time for brewers.

Soft brown crystallines are routinely used in bakery to enhance flavour and colour, improve texture, add moisture and for leavening. In cake making, the sugar is often creamed with butter. The sharp edges of the sugar crystals help drive air into the mixture. As the cake bakes, these air pockets expand and leaven the cake, making its texture lighter and softer for the consumer.  

To learn more about our beet sugar or sugarcane products, contact our Customer Services Team. For more sugar news and Ragus updates, keep browsing SUGARTALK and follow Ragus on LinkedIn.