How is sugar processed?
At the factory, sugarbeets are washed and sliced into thin strips called cossettes. The cossettes go through a large tank called a diffuser where raw juice is extracted. Here’s how: The cossettes are gently lifted from the bottom to the top of the diffuser as hot water washes over them absorbing the sugar. After the sugar-laden raw juice is drawn off, the beet pulp is left behind. This pulp is processed separately into pellets for livestock feed and other products. The raw juice is mingled with milk of lime and carbon dioxide gas in carbonation tanks. The carbon dioxide bubbles through the mixture forming calcium carbonate. The non-sugar particles attach themselves to the calcium carbonate and settle to the bottom of the tanks. The juice is then filtered, leaving a golden light brown clarified thin juice. This juice is boiled under vacuum where much of the water is evaporated, forming a thicker juice similar to pancake syrup. After a second filtration to ensure that all non-sugar mater
