Idaho apparently produces one-sixth of the nation's sugar beet crop. The Snake River Valley is home to Amalgamated Sugar/Snake River Sugar, which takes the many tons of sugar beets grown in this region and refines them into several finished sugar products. In case anyone besides me has been wondering where all our huge crop of local beet sugar has gone, it turns out it's retailed at Albertson's, Fred Meyer, and at Winco Foods, under the store brand or, in the case of Winco, as "White Satin Sugar." I had to call the company to get that information, because I couldn't find it anywhere online.
Note to Idaho companies - please, please, start making it easier to find your products in the retail market! I would have happily bought White Satin sugar all this past year if I'd only known where (and under what brand name) to find it! "Buy Idaho" is a great idea, but not if it turns into a wild online goose chase ending with a semi desperate long distance phone call to your corporate headquarters. Thanks.
