The sugar extracted from the sugar beet (household sugar, granulated sugar) with about half of the world's production. The main area of distribution of this fruit is Europe, but it is also cultivated in the USA, Canada and Asia. The second half of production comes from sugar cane, and the cane sugar obtained from it is chemically identical to beet sugar. The German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709-1782) first demonstrated the sugar content of beet in 1747. Today's species contain around 18 to 20% sugar. The foundations of industrial sugar production were laid by the German natural scientist Franz Carl Achard (1753-1821), and the first beet sugar factory was established in his native Silesia. The sugar sucrose is contained directly in these two crops and is extracted by dissolving, boiling or pressing in aqueous solution and precipitated as crystals during further boiling down. This dual sugar consists of the simple sugars fructose (fruit sugar) and glucose (grape sugar). Beet sugar (cane sugar) in dry form is used, among other things, in winemaking for enrichment for the purpose of increasing alcohol.
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