Napoleonic Trivia #41 (1 Viewer)

[Grognard]

What are the 2 things that triggered the mass production of sugar beet in France under Napoléon's reign?

 

[Obee]

I'd say it was the British having control of production of sugar cane in the Carribean, and then control of the seas, so if the French did have sugar imports, they couldn't get through to France.

By the way, this is a guess (no Google) AND its Saturday, so I don't have all day to 'play on the computer' like work days

Too many soldiers to paint :tongue:

John

 

[Grognard]

I'd say it was the British having control of production of sugar cane in the Caribbean, and then control of the seas, so if the French did have sugar imports, they couldn't get through to France.

By the way, this is a guess (no Goggle) AND its Saturday, so I don't have all day to 'play on the computer' like work days

Too many soldiers to paint :tongue:

John

John, I will give you the first part of the answer...(that was the easy one :wink2. Yes, the Brits did set up a blockade on the French Caribbean islands which cut sugar exports (made from sugar cane) to France and other goodies as well. So the French had to rethink their supply chain for these.
Now what is the second thing that spurred the mass production of sugar beet to create a domestic source of sugar?

 

[Napoleon1er]

What are the 2 things that triggered the mass production of sugar beet in France under Napoléon's reign?

After talking with a friend, my guess is fr use in canned rations.
Vive Napoléon,
Sandor

 

[Grognard]

After talking with a friend, my guess is fr use in canned rations.
Vive Napoléon,
Sandor

Good thinking but while canning was invented during Napoléon's reign by a Frenchman, putting sugar in a can is not the right answer.:wink2:

 

[johnnybach]

They never had it before & They liked it! jb

 

[Grognard]

They never had it before & They liked it! jb

Nope :wink2: Sugar was already widely used in France in cooking and sweets for many decades before they completely switched to Sugar beet (until the blockade ended). Sugar beet's sugar actually tastes the same as Sugar cane's.

 

[Grognard]

OK, the second part of the answer is...Until then there was no industrial process/technology to extract sugar from sugar beet. In 1811 Benjamin Delessert came up with a process of sugar extraction suitable for industrial application and the rest is (sweet) history. Voilà !