Oil and Sugar

I know we need to keep some oils in our food storage, but they don't last forever. What I want to know is if I grow sunflowers how does one press the oil out of the seeds, will an apple cider press work, and how much do I need to plant. I live in the south and can raise sugar cane to make syrup or sugar, but since it's more of a temperate crop anybody got an idea how to produce sugar in a more northerly climate? I thought about either sorghum or sugar beets.

Offered by Mike G.

I’ve been looking for decent information on how to make your own vegetable oil to convert to diesel fuel. Obviously, no vegetable oil, no biodiesel. The best I have come up with is From the Frying Pan to the Fuel Tank and an Oil Seed site, which has a lot of good information and book sources.

Offered by Steve.

Sugar cane is very efficient at converting light to food energy as higher plants go, from that standpoint alone I think it would be a good addition to the mix of indoor crops grown. I would hate to think we would be getting a very large amount of calories from sugar, but there are many other useful things you can do with it. It would be useful to see if sugar cane, beets or sorghum can be grown hydroponically.

Offered by Steve

Maple syrup and honey are the sweeteners of choice in the northern climate. Maple runs in the spring, is easily tapped but needs long boiling times (outdoors). Have done it. Honeybees are fragile creatures and have had disease lately, so are difficult to raise, and may be very susceptible to a die-out in Aftertime conditions. Have cultivated sunflowers, but am unfamiliar with oil extraction process. It should be easy to look up. Nuts are also good sources of oil. Peanuts easy to grow. Seems like olive oil would keep awhile in metal containers.

Offered by Toni.

My husband use to work at a sugarbeet processing plant. He said that they basically cut up the beets, boiled them, then spun them until they solidified and turned into granules.

Offered by Teresa.

Sugar beets are what most sugar is made out of in the US. The popularity of this plant sprang up from the Cuban embargo which meant a sugar shortage. Sugar beets are the primary crop in the thumb area of Michigan - flat, great soil, lots of water. We should look into growing these things.

Offered by John.