[Sca-cooks] CAne vs Beet sugar

[Glenda Robinson]

Speaking of Beet sugar:

According to The Origins of Fruit and Vegetables, Jonathon Roberts, the
first account on how to extract Beet sugar was published in 1747 by German
Chemist Andreas Marggraf. One of his students trialled commercial
production, and by 1775 he had a decently sugared cultivar (6% sucrose) and
the first sugar-extracting factory was set up in 1802. It was a profitable
venture because there wa s a cartel of English sugar millionaires keeping
the cane sugar prices high. Modern sugar-beets are about 18% sucrose

Has anyone got any earlier references? Doesn't look as though the beet
cultivars before the 18th century would really have supported sugar
extraction.

Glenda.