Beetroot makes our life not only tastier, but also sweeter. Sugar is obtained from special sugary beets. This process is quite laborious.
In sugar factories, beets are washed and then cut into pieces. Special machines turn these pieces into a mushy mass. She is stuffed with special bags of coarse wool and put them under the press. Thus, juice is squeezed out, which is boiled in large boilers until the water is completely evaporated. When the juice thickens, the sucrose content reaches 85%. After that, the condensed juice is subjected to a rather complicated purification, as a result of which the usual white granulated sugar is obtained.
The emergence of sugar beet production in Europe owes its origin to the trade war between England and France in the early 19th century. The continental blockade, with the help of which the British tried to strangle Napoleon's regime, doomed the French to a very hard life. The supply of sugar from the English colonies, where it was made from sugar cane, was cut off. Then the country announced a major award to those who find a way out. And soon the local French sugar made from beets appeared on the market.
Completely independently of the French, they were able to implement the same idea in Russia. The first sugar factory in our country was built in 1802 in the village of Alyabyevo, Tula province. By the end of the century, Russia not only fully satisfied its needs at the expense of beet sugar, but even exported it.
