<P> "The beet - root, when being boiled, yields a juice similar to syrup of sugar, which is beautiful to look at on account of its vermilion color ." This was written by 16th - century scientist, Olivier de Serres, who discovered a process for preparing sugar syrup from the common red beet . However, because crystallized cane sugar was already available and provided a better taste, this process never caught on . This story characterizes the history of the sugar beet . The competition between beet sugar and sugar cane for control of the sugar market plays out from the first extraction of a sugar syrup from a garden beet into the modern day . </P> <P> The use of sugar beets for the extraction of crystallized sugar dates to 1747, when Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, professor of physics in the Academy of Science of Berlin, discovered the existence of a sugar in vegetables similar in its properties to that obtained from sugarcane . He found the best of these vegetable sources for the extraction of sugar was the white beet . Despite Marggraf's success in isolating pure sugar from beets, their commercial manufacture for sugar did not take off until the early 19th century . Marggraf's student and successor Franz Karl Achard began selectively breeding sugar beet from the' White Silesian' fodder beet in 1784 . By the beginning of the 19th century, his beet was about 5--6% sucrose by (dry) weight, compared to around 20% in modern varieties . Under the patronage of Frederick William III of Prussia, he opened the world's first beet sugar factory in 1801, at Cunern (Polish: Konary) in Silesia . </P> <P> The work of Achard soon attracted the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte, who appointed a commission of scientists to go to Silesia to investigate Achard's factory . Upon their return, two small factories were constructed near Paris . Although these factories were not altogether a success, the results attained greatly interested Napoleon . Thus, when two events, the blockade of Europe by the British Navy and the Haitian Revolution against his brother - in - law, made the importation of cane sugar untenable, Napoleon seized the opportunity offered by beet sugar to address the shortage . In 1811, Napoleon issued a decree appropriating one million francs for the establishment of sugar schools, and compelling the farmers to plant a large acreage to sugar beets the following year . He also prohibited the further importation of sugar from the Caribbean effective in 1813 . </P> <P> The number of mills increased considerably during the 1820s and 1830s, reaching a peak of 543 in 1837 . The number was down to 382 in 1842, producing about 22.5 million kilos of sugar during that year . </P>

How do you get sugar from sugar beet