sugar beets and my failed attempt to make sugar

sugar beets! fresh out of the garden. i grew five this year.


i balanced all the sugar beets on their heads, leaning against each other, to help dry out the dirt on their sides.


scrubbed clean. really had to scrub!


the dirt packs itself into these rooty crevasses


and around all the top branches


tops are peeled off and roots are trimmed off


chopped up to fit thru my foot processor. you can kinda see the subtle rings in the flesh.


each individual shredded beet practically filled up my food processor bowl


had to use two stock pots, it was too much for one plus a bit of water




stove setup


peels and roots for the compost bin


cooking the shreds down, they foamed up


foamy foamy


strained brown sugar water liquid


strainer full of shreds


second stock pot with liquid and shreds still in it


two large colanders full of sugar beet shreds


back into the stock pots to boil down


and boil. and boil and boil and boil. its supposed to spontaneously form sugar crystals on its own. it never did. i've seen maple sap cooked down into sugar crystals. it is spontaneous.


it just kept cooking down and thickening, but no sugar crystals.


at this point i gave up. its so thick.


i stupidly poured it into a bowl. i never got it out of that bowl.


i barely got the damn pan clean!


dried hard as a rock. couldnt poke a nail or a knife into it. even soaking the bowl in boiling water wouldnt free it. i had to throw the bowl away.


and the underside of my 'over the range' microwave with a vent hood, was covered in moisture. its too low to the stove, and the vent isnt strong enough to pull the steam to the center where its vent it. i'm not happy with this microwave/vent. but any fix would require a total upper cupboard remodel, ripping out the soffit and replacing the custom built all one piece crummy old upper cabinets.