Swiss Sugar Factory

GS

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:22:01 GMT

Indeed , a work worth appreciating. Really quite informative. Fx, I intend to open up a similar factory in Switzerland, can you plz guide us as to how I can go about it.

Once again well done.

reza

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:28:14 GMT

Hi,
Iam reza from IRAN and when i saw your texts and your explain i interested about that ,I am a Eng sugar technology ,infact factories in iran are different they are not modern as swiss ,therefore i interest to visit a sugar factory in swiss ,do you think this is possible and if it is possible could you help me ?
thank you

Noam

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 07:01:40 GMT

I really enjoyed the commentary in this post. Great work!
-Hollywood, Florida
USA

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:20:22 GMT

Ciao Dario, certo, puoi utilizzare le mie foto per il tuo articolo, per� solo mettere un link verso FXcuisine.com

Dario Bressanini

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:15:58 GMT

Hi, Great post and wonderful photos. Everything seems sooo big!!
I follow your blog but I have never left a comment :-)
I have a Blog (in Italian) about the Science of Cooking, and I am about to write an article on sugar. If it is possible I would like to use some of your photos (obviously properly citing the source and putting a link to this article)
Let me know if you agree.

Cheers Dario

fx

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:07:07 GMT

Thank you Mona, organic brown sugar is not done from sugarbeets, as far as I know, but from sugarcanes.

Mona

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:11:02 GMT

Thank you so much!!! great work chef. The photos are excelent. So what about the brown organic sugar?
I sent you a private email, which bounced back to my email, I want to ask about coffee shops in europe
Please write when you can :)
hugs
Mona

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:54:05 GMT

Mag, there are no chemicals in sugar. You should be glad not to like sugar, but perhaps if in the past you used to eat too much of it, you managed to kick that habit by convincing yourself that it tastes like turpentine. But it doesn"t!

Magdolna

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:11:01 GMT

I hate sugar, it feels caustic; put some in your mouth and taste the chemicals on the crystals. I don"t know what it is, some residual from the processing? An additve? Or a remnant of a cleaning product used for the vats in the factory? Whatever it is, I feel it.
I drink my hot chocolates pure, only hot water and non-Dutched cacao.Sugar would ruin it. So, I never need any white sugar in my house,I use maple syrup or honey for an occasional waffle or crepe, oatmeal cereal for breakfast and brown sugar for Chinese sweet and sour recipes. (Confessions of a recovered sugar-addict.)

fx

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:45:56 GMT

Thanks Geoff, glad you could learn about the limestone and sugar story!

Geoff Ball

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:35:21 GMT

Great photographs and detail, very informative.

Growing up here in Winnipeg Canada, the Sugarbeet factory was very close by. It was an old brick building, build around 1910 with 4 huge concrete silos . You knew when it was making sugar by the smell, it"s unlike anything else.

However in the 90"s the Canadian government stopped the subsidizing sugarbeet production and the factory closed. (It"s still much cheaper to buy sugar from sugarcane).

The USA still has tariffs and subsidizes sugarbeet production and when we go south to Grand Forks North Dakota we can still smell the makings of sugar.

I haven"t heard of anyone eating sugarbeets. I did wonder what limestone had to do with sugarbeets.

Thanks for sharing :)

fx

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 02:53:13 GMT

Juliet, glad you liked it! The last picture was shot in minimum light, handheld and slow shutter speed, definitely not my best, but hey, I can prove I wasn"t holding the camera on this one!

Juliet

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:06:39 GMT

Wow. Thank you for the fabulous article on the sugar factory. I didn"t realize the process was so involved. That is very cool that you were able to tour one and learn so much!! :) I love the picture of you with your weight and sugar too by the way...

fx

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:23:34 GMT

Xavier, I recommend you visit if you have a chance!

Xavier

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:20:05 GMT

You definitely taught me something today ! I would never have guessed that sugar making implied so much physics and chemistry. But whom do they sell all their melasse to ?

fx

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:40:17 GMT

Cynthia, thanks, actually I wish they really gave me my weight in sugar!

Cynthia

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:36:40 GMT

And what did I get for all my efforts? My weight in sugar. - You are too funny! I get to escape and explore when I come here. Thank you.

fx

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:47:21 GMT

Agustin, mucha suerte con la tarta de casta�as y gracias por tu visita!

fx

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:45:35 GMT

Renko, thanks for your visit!

fx

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:45:16 GMT

DWat, I am not sure that locating this factory opposite a school would work so great, but everything is close in Switzerland, so they must have some classes visit it, for sure.

fx

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:43:48 GMT

Helena, glad you liked my article! Coke, in the sense used in this article, is the carbonaceous residue left after burning coal.

As for the CO2 I"ll just use a little capsule from my whipped cream dispenser.

Helena

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:44:47 GMT

Thanks for sharing yet another arm-chair travelling adventure. Factory / manufacturing tours are so fun from a distance when you don"t have to walk them yourself. ;) But honestly, your curiosity regarding so many things is so fun to read! :)

Regarding agar-agar vs. gelatin, there is another alternative. Pectin, from fruits like crab apples, could be used as a substitute in many sweet / tart recipes. For example, jams made with pectin does not require something extra to hold it together.

Regarding the chemistry section, can you clarify something? What is coke? The first thing that came to mind is Coca-Cola, which I have a feeling isn"t what you mean.

Regarding carbon dioxide, I know the people who make homemade root beer or cola use that stuff. So you can try a search on that. There are a few from scratch homemade recipes. Or the easiest way, get a soda machine. It incorporates carbon dioxide / bubbles into your soda water. (Think you can find the little handheld home versions on Ebay. Or try your local restaurant / bar surplus stores. Or places going out of business. They might carry the countertop version.) Just hook up the tube for the water into something else and the machine will mix up the CO2 with whatever you have in mind.

The home lab kitchen is a slippery slope though. Once you start, you just might end up experimenting with liquid nitrogen ice-cream. (There are a few chefs around the world playing with that stuff.) Or there is that fad with adding extra oxygen or precious metals into drinks et cetera.

DWat

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:34:58 GMT

What a great article! I love to do stuff like that, go on those tours. Around here (California), they are usually close to home and school children get to see it all. It was really sweet of you to share. :-) DWat

Renko

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:50:28 GMT

This was unexpected. I usually go to this site for recipes to try out. I did not expect to read about a fantasticaly efficient factory. What an enlightening read! I never would have thought such things as limestone is used in sugar production.

Agustin Jauregui

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:00:40 GMT

Very interesting article with great photos.
I recently discovered your blog doing a search for chestnut pie recipes and I am really surprised of the quality of the job you have done.
Un saludo desde Bilbao y ya te contar� que tal me queda la tarta de casta�as!!
Agust�n

fx

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:33:35 GMT

Thanks Irene!

fx

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:33:20 GMT

Chiffonade, I think here in Europe the statement "as harmless as sugar" would not work overly well as a publicity statement!

fx

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:31:31 GMT

Mike, thanks for the background information on the many cousins on the sugarbeet! I have many plans to use my weight in sugar brought back from Aarberg.

fx

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:28:52 GMT

Thanks a lot Paul, glad you liked them!

fx

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:24:50 GMT

Wazwallaby, the fish paste sugarcane skewers sound absolutely delicious, do you know where in Indonesia I could see a village version cooked from scratch?

fx

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:23:52 GMT

Kurzhaar, thanks for your kind words! The CO2 cylinder is definitely the simplest and most efficient way and I won"t need to turn my kitchen into a meth lab to achieve the CO2! Unfortunately I"ve never visited Thailand but believe you when you say their cooking is entirely worthy of consideration. My way of going about food is to read a lot and I don"t read Thai- there lies the rub.

kurzhaar

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:02:58 GMT

Hallo FX,

Have been enjoying your super blog for a few months but this is my first post.

Re: CO2 in the kitchen--easiest is to simply purchase a cylinder of food-grade CO2 (here in the US it is used among other things to carbonate beer kegs). CO2 is also used by some welders. I have seen quite small cylinders (about the size of a home fire extinguisher). Otherwise, you could generate it by mixing baking soda (not baking powder) with an acid like vinegar, but that would be far less efficient.

If you have the chance, you ought to investigate Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. Such an extraordinary array of flavours and extensive use of herbs! The Thais grill ground shrimp wrapped around a sugarcane "skewer" and serve this with fresh cilantro, mint, lettuces, etc., wrapped in a rice paper wrapper and served with a dipping sauce. The sugarcane plays up the natural sweetness of the shrimp. Delicious!

Also loved your post on Eataly, I was there a couple of months ago and am still stunned. :)

kurzhaar

wazwallaby

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:16:17 GMT

Wonderful article, as ever, and web site. In Indonesia I have been offered raw sugarcane stalks to suck and chew on as a refreshment, and also had a ground, spicy fishmeat wrapped around a sugarcane stalk and cooked and eaten a la satay stick. Hot, spicy, savoury then sweet, sweeter, sweetest. Hmmm, excuse me, must go to the kitchen! Keep up you fascinating articles!

Paul S.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:58:46 GMT

FX,

I loved the effect you gave a few of those photos to make them look like tiny models! Very effective at showing the scale of the factory!
Another awesome post, as always!

-Paul

Mike

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:24:54 GMT

Hi FX!
It started with Couleur3, the radio station from Lausanne, they currently broadcast "Chronophage" where Philippe Ligron (a teacher from the Ecole h�teli�re de Lausanne, he calls himself "historien de la bouffe", historian of grub) tells about food from prehistoric time up to today and all it"s aspects - you may get it as podcasts (son du jour). One day the topic was about G�teau de Savoie and I looked for a recipe in written for it on the internet. So I came to your site. Congratulation! Hats off!!
About sugar beet: my father told me, when he was a boy they used to eat it. Well, not as meal prepared in the citchen, more like a prank of the gang, stealing the sugar beets directly in the field and roasting them on a fire, having no knife peeling it by teeth. What a difference in awareness of life to only stealing a sugar cube from grandma"s larder.
For the serious citchen there exist some variations of sugar beet: turnip (? - Bodenkolrabi in german) with yellow pulp (not orange like carrots), and the waaay more fine white form of it (Weisse R�ben). Here at Stuttgart they know only the Bodenkolrabi but round and at B�le you get now and for several weeks the others. They are close to the Teltower R�bchen, Mair�ben, or Petrowski. May be it is called "Navets" in french. I prepare both kinds the same way: making with some butter and sugar (from Aarberg of cause ) a caramel, transparent a small diced onion in it, add the choped vegetable and steam it until done, add little salt before serve. Delicate! Goes well with veal or fine pork.
Now, what will be your next project using all the sugar you"ve got from Aarberg? Testing navets steamed in caramel-onion-mixture or "Kleine g�teaux de Vully" made with crunched sugar dices??

Best,
Mike

Chiffonade

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:08:24 GMT

It amazes me that something so delicious can start its life as a non-desript brown lump hauled by a dump truck to a factory that (based on appearances) could be mining and processing coal.

It"s nice to read about a natural sugar - especially since here in the US, those who make high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) have launched an ad campaign that "compares" it to sugar. They defend it by saying, "In moderation, it"s just as harmless as sugar," or some such propaganda. I guess the trick is to ATTEMPT consuming HFCS in moderation - it"s in nearly everything from soup to soda.

Give me real sugar or brown sugar anyday. I frequently substitute some portion of white sugar for brown sugar because of the richness it lends to just about any dish in which I include it.

The holidays are coming and no doubt those who bake (like me) are gearing up for another flour-sugar fest!

Thanks for another great blog entry.

<3 Chiffy

irene gray

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:37:52 GMT

interesting as always - but a word of correction

zuckerruebe = sugarbeet

rote beete = beetroot - these would make some pretty colourful sugarcubes :-)

fx

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:02:56 GMT

Bec, if you compare white sugar, then there is no difference between beet and cane sugars. But if we compare brown sugar, where some of the molasses have been left, then sugarcane is better, it has that rich flavor! A reader mentioned roasting sugarcane in hot embers, have you ever tried that?

bec

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:07:47 GMT

Oh Well done! - your photography is always fantastic - but I loved the different perspective and "tilt shift lens" trick. Oh - and an excellent post once again - having grown up in North Queensland (Australia) - - I tend to forget that there are actually other sources out there - this post was both interesting and informative. It was also an eye-opener seeing the difference between a sugar cane mill and the "beet mill" ... I"m interested to know if there is much difference in the taste between beet sugar and cane sugar?

fx

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:01:34 GMT

Sean I"m glad you share my fascination for food plants!

fx

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:01:11 GMT

Joanie, one more word and I"ll have you carry my huge tripod bag around a food plant!

fx

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:00:32 GMT

Nicole, thanks for visiting! Yes I did the "fake model" look on purpose, it gives a more dramatic look to otherwise mundane scenes, and there was no shortage of ladders and footbridges to shoot from.

fx

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:59:16 GMT

Thanks for the tip! This factory is really high tech because they keep the staff for the 9 months a year when there is no production, so they have ample time to go cuckoo-clock on the plant.

Shiladitya

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:11:29 GMT

Thanks for yet another superb presentation ! I have had a chance to visit a cane sugar plant in operation when i was a kid, but never had any idea what goes all on inside a beet sugar plant. Thanks to you, now I do!

Regarding your CO2-in-the-kitchen query:
The simplest way would be to add some baking (or washing )soda to an acid like vinegar or lemon juice in a bottle and then collecting the bubbling gas via a rubber tube fitted at its mouth (or a stopper with a glass tube running down it).
This is what happens inside most fire extinguishers as well.

Nicole

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:16:56 GMT

Great article. In Savoie people grow sugar beets (known as rave) to feed to cattle and pigs. I don"t believe they are considered edible but supposedly they were eaten during the war. What an interesting visit and great photos, some of the ones with shallow depth of field did look a lot like photos of a model instead of being of the "real deal.

Joanie

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:33:03 GMT

What fun! It is a true pleasure to "travel" with you. You can be my tour guide any day. where to next?

Sean

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:21:34 GMT

Ahh...I love watching food being pumped out from these gigantic mechanical devices. Makes be very happy :) Thanks for the post!

fx

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:09:28 GMT

JMZ I didn"t know they still let people short the market, these days there seem to be nobody buying anything. If you feel depressed, eat some Swiss Sugar!

fx

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:08:36 GMT

Ronald, thanks, I have corrected it! Now you might be able to help me further, how could I easily produce Carbon Dioxide in the kitchen? Ideally mix a few common chemicals in a plastic bottle and have a little hose to let me bubble the gas through some liquid. How could I do that?

fx

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:06:33 GMT

Sarah, I just call them up and explain that I would like to take pictures and write an article about the factory. Very rarely I get a negative answer, most people are happy and flattered. And then they want pictures! I"ve been doing this since school though, I wish there was Internet and Digital cameras like those we have today.