The state built new factories to extract the sugar - so a new industry was born. An important crop Today more sugar is made from beet than cane. It is an important crop in Europe, especially around Cambrai. In north France, you can often smell sugar beet processing plants working flat out in the autumn. In recent years, craft producers have revived popular 19th century confectionery favourites.
Many towns have a speciality sweet, that is sold to tourists as a souvenir.
Sugar from beet As part of this policy, the French state ordered farmers to grow sugar beet. In 1802 a Prussian scientist had discovered how to make sugar from this root vegetable. The fertile soils of the former marshes in the Flanders area of France and Belgium were particularly suitable for growing beet. Belgium was then part of Napoleon's French Empire. Huge fortunes were made growing sugar in the West Indies and shipping it to Europe - Napoleon hoped to cripple Britain by developing an alternative supply.