Sugar Beets on the Volga There are many accounts of sugar beets grown in gardens by the Germans to be used as a sweetener. My Grandmother from Grimm continued that practice by making a supply of sugar beet syrup each year, which she used it as a topping on her Kuchen. It had its own unique flavor, it was one of our favorite kuchen along with black berry kuchen. Fred C. Koch in his book "The Volga Germans" said "Sugar beets were raised to meet domestic needs. The settlers processed them into a syrup that served as a sweetener for many cooking purposes. A sugar-beet factory was established in Anton on the Bergsite, reportedly as early as 1815, which operated on a commercial scale for sixty years before beet-production problems closed down the venture." Jacob E. Dietz in his book "History of the Volga German Colonists" mentions sugar beets. "In 1813 the Saratov provincial directorate allowed artist Collegiate Assessor Kigelken to build a sugar beet factory in the colony of Sebastyanovka and to distill alcohol from the beet residue. The colonists gave land to the factory for the production and planting of sugar beets. From Kigelkhen the factory was transferred to Polish gentry Liaskowski, who went from poor renter to a man of enormous means when he returned to Poland in 1876 after the factory was destroyed."

Thanks, Henry. You are still my go-to expert for sugar beets! On 3/13/2011 12:20 PM, Henry Schmick wrote: > > > Sugar Beets on the Volga > > There are many accounts of sugar beets grown in gardens by the Germans to be > used as a sweetener. My Grandmother from Grimm continued that practice by > making a supply of sugar beet syrup each year, which she used it as a topping > on her Kuchen. It had its own unique flavor, it was one of our favorite > kuchen along with black berry kuchen. > > Fred C. Koch in his book "The Volga Germans" said "Sugar beets were raised to > meet domestic needs. The settlers processed them into a syrup that served as > a sweetener for many cooking purposes. A sugar-beet factory was established > in Anton on the Bergsite, reportedly as early as 1815, which operated on a > commercial scale for sixty years before beet-production problems closed down > the venture." > > Jacob E. Dietz in his book "History of the Volga German Colonists" mentions > sugar beets. "In 1813 the Saratov provincial directorate allowed artist > Collegiate Assessor Kigelken to build a sugar beet factory in the colony of > Sebastyanovka and to distill alcohol from the beet residue. The colonists > gave land to the factory for the production and planting of sugar beets. From > Kigelkhen the factory was transferred to Polish gentry Liaskowski, who went > from poor renter to a man of enormous means when he returned to Poland in 1876 > after the factory was destroyed." > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >