(57) (D An improved method of recovering sucrose from plant- derived aqueous solutions is provided. The method comprises contacting an aqueous sucrose-containing solution derived from plant juice, such as sugar cane or sugar beet juice, with aliphatic carboxylic acid having an average carbon chain length of about 2-6, in a concentration sufficient to selectively precipitate a substantial amount of sucrose from the solution. The precipitate is then separated and recovered and the depleted solution can be recycled. Preferably the sucrose-containing solution is concentrated to about 55-96 Brix before the contacting and the contacting is carried out by rapidly adding the sucrose-containing solution to the acid in order to assure rapid growth of large sucrose crystals for maximum sucrose recovery. The sucrose-containing solution before concentrating can be any solution obtained prior to molasses formation; e.g. untreated diffusion juice, prelimed and/or predefecated diffusion juice, purified diffusion juice or even a solution formed by reconstituting from raw recovered sugar; alternatively, it can be a solution after molasses formation, in which event the selected acid, if it includes acetic acid, only includes it in a mixture with other aliphatic carboxylic acids. It may also be waste fluid from a canning operation or the like.