bladegolem47

It can be stored like a syrup, which is a very common way to keep beet sugar. I believe it's used more like a molasses. I haven't tried this myself, but that's about the step that I got it to before trying to extract the solid sugar. According to what's available online, it should keep for several months if you keep it in a closed jar.

A coffee grinder, or maybe even a flour mill, would likely be very useful in speeding up the process.

Keep those old skills alive! I'm glad you enjoyed my write up.

Seeding the sugar syrup with a small amount of sugar crystals seems to help dramatically with crystal formation, so I would recommend that. My sugar beets failed last year so I haven't been able to refine the process yet.

It depends what your local climate is. I believe sugar beets require a somewhat cooler climate. If you are in a more tropical area, you might consider sorghum or sugar cane.

Neat! I'll have to give this a try, I love crushed pepper flakes.

I tried something similar on my first (failed) batch. I used a food mill to try and squeeze more juice out of the beets- I wound up with something the consistency of apple sauce that clogged the cloth I was using as a filter. I'm not sure if it gave much more liquid, but it was a lot messier.

I kept the trays in my kitchen out of the way. Winter here is very dry and bug-free, so I didn't have to worry about that. Otherwise, any place that's cool and dry would probably work well. You could probably cover the trays with cloth if bugs are a problem.

I'm not sure that other vegetables would have enough sugar content to make it worthwhile.