BOYS COOKING

Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B. vulgaris cultivars such as beetroot and chard share a common wild ancestor, the sea beet (Beta vulgaris maritima).

The European Union, the United States, and Russia are the world's three largest sugar beet producers, although only the European Union and Ukraine are significant exporters of sugar from beets. The U.S. harvested 1,004,600 acres (4 065 km?) of sugarbeets in 2008. Beet sugar accounts for 30–35% of the world's sugar production.

Culture

Sugar beet is a hardy biennial plant that can be grown commercially in a wide variety of temperate climates. During its first growing season, it produces a large (1–2 kg) storage root whose dry mass is 15–20% sucrose by weight. If the plant is not harvested at this time, then during its second growing season, nutrients in the root will be used to produce flowers and seeds and the root will decrease in size. In commercial beet production, the root is harvested after the first growing season.


Sugar beet output in 2005In most temperate climates, beets are planted in the spring and harvested in the autumn. At the northern end of its range, growing seasons as short as 100 days can produce commercially viable sugarbeet crops. In warmer climates, such as in California's Imperial Valley, sugarbeets are a winter crop, planted in the autumn and harvested in the spring. In recent years, Syngenta has developed the so-called tropical sugar beet. It allows the plant to grow in tropical and subtropical regions. Beets are planted from a small seed; 1 kg of beet seed comprises 100,000 seeds and will plant over a hectare of ground (1 lb will plant about an acre).

Until the latter half of the 20th century, sugarbeet production was highly labor-intensive, as weed control was managed by densely planting the crop, which then had to be manually thinned two or three times with a hoe during the growing season. Harvesting also required many workers. Although the roots could be lifted by a plough-like device which could be pulled by a horse team, the rest of the preparation was by hand. One laborer grabbed the beets by their leaves, knocked them together to shake free loose soil, and then laid them in a row, root to one side, greens to the other. A second worker equipped with a beet hook (a short-handled tool between a billhook and a sickle) followed behind, and would lift the beet and swiftly chop the crown and leaves from the root with a single action. Working this way, he would leave a row of beets that could be forked into the back of a cart.


Worldwide sugar beet productionTop Ten Sugar Beet Producers - 2005
(million metric tons)
France 29
Germany 25
United States 25
Russia 22
Ukraine 16
Turkey 14
Italy 12
Poland 11
United Kingdom 8
Spain 7
World Total 242
Source:
UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

Today, mechanical sowing, herbicide application for weed control and mechanical harvesting have displaced this reliance on manual farm work. A root beater uses a series of blades to chop the leaf and crown (which is high in non-sugar impurities) from the root. The beet harvester lifts the root, and removes excess soil from the root in a single pass over the field. A modern harvester is typically able to cover six rows at the same time. The beets are dumped into trucks as the harvester rolls down the field, and then delivered to the factory. The conveyor then removes more soil.

If the beets are to be left for later delivery, they are formed into clamps. Straw bales are used to shield the beets from the weather. Provided the clamp is well built with the right amount of ventilation, the beets do not significantly deteriorate. Beets that freeze and then defrost produce complex carbohydrates that cause severe production problems in the factory. In the UK, loads may be hand examined at the factory gate before being accepted.

In the US, the fall harvest begins with the first hard frost, which arrests photosynthesis and the further growth of the root. Depending on the local climate, it may be carried out over the course of a few weeks or be prolonged throughout the winter months. The harvest and processing of the beet is referred to as "the campaign", reflecting the organization required to deliver the crop at a steady rate to processing factories that run 24 hours a day for the duration of the harvest and processing (for the UK the campaign lasts approximately 5 months). In the Netherlands this period is known as "de bietencampagne", a time to be careful when driving on local roads in the area while the beets are being grown. The reason for this is because the naturally high clay content of the soil tends to cause slippery roads when soil falls from the trailers during transport.

Sebewaing, Michigan is known (to Americans) as the sugar beet capital of t

Don & Chip starting the XR500 on loan from a friend in Vegas.

The beast is alive.

Shooting skeet in the neighbor's backyard... and trying out the .20 & .
12 gauge shotguns Don brought back from Turkey in '02. Thanks to
neighbor Tom, we just showed up and bought ammo and clay pigeons by
the boxful there.

The whole group - an even mix of neighbor Tom's extended family and of
the guys in our bible study.

Don gave Gibson a half-hour fun ride on my Husky TE250. The ground
was damp, the air was cool--perfect conditions.

That evening we had our Thanksgiving feast. The Johnsons (Kim & Troy,
and their kids, Ali, Stephanie, Katie, and Lil Troy) came over to join
Don, Chip & our family at our house. This is the kids' table in the
front room. The smoked turkey turned out AMAZING! We took 1 thawed
22 lb turkey, injected Lawry's Steak-n-Chip marinade into the meat,
then cooked the turkey in the Orion smoker (link) for 2 hrs with the
temperature probe attached. EASY and superdelicious.