Product Review

In the mid 18th century, a German chemist by the name of Andreas Margraff found that the chemical composition of beets included sucrose similar to that of sugar cane. Sugar cane provided the only source for sugar at that time; consequently, the prices of sugar rose very high because of the necessity of importing it from foreign countries. Franz Karl Achard, one of Margraff's students, continued the research and brought the sugar beet into production for a source of sugar; for his pioneering efforts, he is called the father of the sugar beet industry. When the supply of sugar cane was lost because of war time, Napoleon declared that the sugar beet be grown in large amounts to provide sugar. This established commercial use of the sugar beet, and eventually it grew in almost every country.