Who grows white sugar beets?

[Gary350]

I have never planted white sugar beets I hear they are a good source of sugar.

[digitS']

I gave some thought to it last winter as I planned my garden, Gary. The question that entered my mind was, "why?"

I have 4 beet varieties in the garden, this year: 2 red hybrids, a golden (Touchstone) and a white (Albino). It seemed to me that I could use Albino to make sugar/syrup but I'm not sure that it would contribute to a better diet if I did. It should also be possible to make syrup from the others and likely that the product would not be red or gold after processing, just some shade of brown. Someone who knows more about making jams and jellies could comment.

By the Way: I have grown Touchstone beets several times but still prefer Red Ace beet flavor over any of the others. I have 2 varieties of their chard relative in the garden, also. You can see what I was up to . Baby beets are just about my favorite vegetable. However, I have never liked chard. Or, what I think of as chard. The chard "Perpetual Spinach" has been in my garden several times and I have enjoyed it and liked Verde de Taglio chard, this year.

This area has a history of growing sugar beets. I used to see the fields and there was a factory not far away, processing them into sugar.

Steve

[Gary350]

I saw sugar beet fields when I was in ID and UT about 3 years ago. I have tried several types of Chard the only one I like is Rainbow Chard it tastes much better than the others. I see sugar beet seeds on ebay are there more than 1 type sugar beet?

[jal_ut]

I have not grown them myself. Around these parts the farmers used to grow them by the acre for a cash crop. When they dug them you could then get a job picking them up and with a beet knife cut off the top and then toss them in the wagon. (Look for "beet knife" on Google Images. It was a special knife about 20 inches long with a spike on the end. With it you could pickup the beet without bending your back and then cut the top. )