A Sweet Story

When it comes to sugar, Suzy Stennett is definitely buying local.

I’M in two minds when it comes to sugar – the mother constantly guarding my girls from consuming too many sweets, the rest of me loyally supporting my sugar beet growing husband and the British sugar industry.

I’m always amazed that the same product can be processed from two completely different plants – sugar beet, like a large turnip, farmed throughout Europe, and maizelike sugar cane, better suited to the hotter climates of countries such as Mauritius and Belize. For the purpose of this article, I did a taste test with the family – a (small) spoonful of granulated sugar processed from sugar beet, and another processed from sugar cane – and none of us could taste the difference.