Sugar beet
| Sugar beet | |
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| Two sugar beets - the one on the left has been selectively bred to be smoother than the traditional beet, so that it traps less soil. | |
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| Species: | B. vulgaris |
| Binomial name | |
| Beta vulgaris | |
Sugar beets are a plant, raised as a food crop. The roots of sugar beets contain a high amount of sucrose, which can be processed into sugar. Sugar beets are grown largely for their ability to be used as a more economical, more hardy source of sugar than the more climatologically finicky, pricier sugarcane.
The biggest producers of sugar beet are the European Union, the United States and Russia. Of the world's sugar production, 30% derives from sugar beets.
The sugar beet is related to chard.
