Sugar- did you know?

[urban dreamer]

I am gonna look for the non GMO seeds. I use sugar when canning and baking but other than that I have cut my sugar consumption way down.

 

[Wifezilla]

I made apple sauce with honey. It didn't need much. Sorry, I didn't measure...just went by taste. I also made some jelly with raw honey but just used the no sugar needed pectin. That stuff works fine and I can use as little sweetener as possible.

 

[Bettacreek]

I was buying the Great Value (Walmart) brand white sugar. It's almost $5 for a 5lb bag ($4 something). I am now buying raw sugar at $.79/lb. If I bought it in bulk (50lb bag) it would be $.64/lb. Now, even if I round down and say that the 5lb bag is $4, it comes out to $.80/lb. It's the same price here for the 5lb or the 10lb bag. I of course haven't checked the 50lb bags (not sure if they still have them here or not). So it's cheaper when buying smaller bags. I'm going to assume that the big bags will be the same outcome, but even if it were more for the raw in large quantities, it still isn't much more, and is certainly cheaper than buying the small bags of "refined" white sugar.

 

[urban dreamer]

I like the idea of making sugar. It's so neat! And it would be raw sugar too.

 

[Wifezilla]

Sugar: Since it was brought to the New World along with Columbus, sugar cane has been a product that has been associated with slave labor as it is notoriously hard to plant, harvest and process. Unfortunately, little has changed today and slaves produce sugar on plantations around the world. In Pakistan, 7,500 bonded laborers on cane fields have been freed since 1995. Yet this is only a fraction of the 50,000 more that are estimated to still be working in the fields of the Singh region. In Brazil, more than 1,000 workers were freed from a sugar cane plantation in 2007, the largest anti-slavery raid in modern times. These countries arent alone, with numerous places in Africa, the Caribbean and Central America putting people to work in sugar fields against their will. Make sure your sugar truly is sweet by finding out where its from and whether or not its fair trade.

http://blogs.wherethelocalseat.com/...ction-Low-Wages2c-Slavery--Migrant-Abuse.aspx

 

[TxCountryMom]

I spoke with a customer rep from Shumway's, and their sugar beet seeds are non-GMO and are not hybrid. She couldn't tell me that they were heirloom, but wouldn't non-hybrid be considered heirloom? I have ordered some, as it is the best time for our area to be growing beets, so I will update on what kind of success I have here in the Gulf Coast area.

 

[urban dreamer]

I spoke with a customer rep from Shumway's, and their sugar beet seeds are non-GMO and are not hybrid. She couldn't tell me that they were heirloom, but wouldn't non-hybrid be considered heirloom? I have ordered some, as it is the best time for our area to be growing beets, so I will update on what kind of success I have here in the Gulf Coast area.

HI! Oh and the only "slave labor" going into this sugar WZ, is me and possibly DF.

 

[MsPony]

What happened to sugar cane? I remember as a kid the mexicans in the apartments next to us grew it! Omg, I could open one up and suck down the sugar cane <33

But in response to them, boo hoo that you have to do things the way that is healthy!! Stupid.

 

[VickiLynn]

Since a couple of years ago, when they first approved GM sugar beets, I've been careful to only buy cane sugar. If it doesn't say it's cane sugar on the label, it's probably beet sugar. Even though they banned the planting of GM beets this year, who knows how much sugar is still out there in the pipeline from before the ban.

 

[TxCountryMom]

What happened to sugar cane? I remember as a kid the mexicans in the apartments next to us grew it! Omg, I could open one up and suck down the sugar cane <33

But in response to them, boo hoo that you have to do things the way that is healthy!! Stupid.

You know? I have looked and researched and "google'd" till I'm almost blind, looking for sugar cane. That would actually grow better in my Gulf Coast region area, but for some reason, the only cane I can find is "ornamental" and does not have the sugar content. I might have to visit a farmer's market somewhere and see if they still sell it. I too, remember chewing on sugar cane as a kid - I guess I should have grown it instead.