In Michigan, sugar comes from sugar beets— from the root of sugar beet plants, to be precise. Sugar from sugar beets is identical in chemical formula, nutritional value, taste, appearance and sweetening powers to cane sugars. And, since sugar cane does not grow in our cooler climate, sugar beets provide a locally grown, inexpensive source of sugar to feed our sweetest desires.

Michigan farmers have been harvesting sugar beets in our state since the late 1800s, and today, Michigan ranks fourth in the nation in the production of sugar beets. Michigan sugar beet farmers planted about 179,000 acres of sugar beets in 2002, primarily in Michigan's Saginaw Bay/Thumb area. Huron and Tuscola were the top sugar beet-producing counties in 2002. Total production of sugar beets in 2002 was 3,204,000 tons!

It takes only 12 beets to make one pound of sugar. In addition to granulated white sugar, sugar beets are made into various sugar products, including brown sugar and confectioner's, or powdered, sugar. Beet pulp, a sugar beet by-product, is processed into cattle feed. Molasses, another by-product, is used to make citric acid, vinegar, yeast, antibiotics and other products.

The Beet Goes On

The sugar-making process begins with the planting of sugar beets in May. Maximum yields are obtained with a long growing season, so beets are planted early in the spring, as soon as the soil can be worked. To allow for the sugar content to be as great as possible, beets are harvested as late into the fall as possible, but before the ground freezes. Harvest wraps up by the middle of November.

Sugar beets are harvested mechanically in Michigan. Multiple-row harvesting machines dig the plants, cut off the top of the root and leaves, and deliver the roots into trucks. The leaves with crowns are used for livestock feed, either as they are, or as silage (chopped and stored in airtight silos and allowed to ferment). The roots are delivered by truck to the sugar mills, where piling machines unload the beets and convey them to large "air conditioned" storage piles. The beets are stored in piles at the mill until processing time.

The process of obtaining pure sugar from a raw sugar beet is highly automated. First, the sugar beets are washed and cut into long thin strips known as "cossettes." Then the sugar beets go through five main processing steps:

Diffusion
The cossettes enter the diffuser that extracts the raw juice and discharges the pulp to a dryer. Sugar is removed from the cossettes by running them through hot water in a series of vats separated into compartments. As the hot water travels from compartment to compartment, the sugar content increases, until the hot water emerges as "raw juice" with a sugar content of about 10 to 15 percent. The raw juice then travels to an automated juice purification station. The dried pulp that remains after the raw juice is removed from the cossettes is used as cattle and sheep feed - nothing is wasted in sugar beet processing!

Purification
At the juice purification station, the raw juice is mixed with milk of lime, which causes non-sugars in the juice to precipitate, or form solids. These non-sugars are filtered out of the raw juice using carbon dioxide gas. At this point, the product is called "thin juice."

Evaporation
The thin juice is heated in a series of steam-heated vacuum evaporators, to remove excess water. Flowing from one evaporator to another, the juice's density increases and a heavy syrup-like liquid remains. The juice from these evaporators is filtered once again and then enters the crystallization process.

Crystallization
The final super-saturated solution is "seeded" with sugar crystals to promote crystallization of the sugar. The finished product of this process of crystallization is called "massecuite" and consists of sugar crystals and syrup.

Separation
The massecuite then travels to the centrifugal machine to be separated. The massecuite is placed in a finely perforated cylindrical basket, and the centrifuge spins at 1,000 revolutions per minute, throwing syrup up toward the screen-like holes. The pure white sugar crystals remain and are bathed by hot filtered water. The syrup thrown out of the centrifuge is re-boiled and eventually becomes molasses. The remaining slightly damp sugar crystals then move to the granulator where hot filtered air dries them. Finally, the manufacturer packs the final product - pure white sugar.

Michigan sugar is shipped to processing plants that make baked goods and other processed foods. It is also packaged in packets, canisters and bags for use by restaurants and bakeries, and to grocery stores for us to purchase and use in our homes.

Now that you know where Michigan sugar comes from, check out these web sites for some easy-to-make, sweet recipes made with Michigan sugar!

Michigan Sugar Company