Beet Chioggia per oz.

Appealing to fresh market and specialty growers! Novel interior color is zoned white with vivid purple. Sweet flavor! Short tops. Also known as candystripe beet and bulls eye beet, for its red and white alternating rings. An Italian heirloom variety, its roots are very sweet and its greens are mild and light green in color. Approximately 60 days to maturity.

Chioggia beets are also known as "candy cane beets" or "bullseye beets" and come from the Italian coastal town of Chioggia, near Venice. Doesn't their bright stripey color just make you happy? They have been around since the early 19th-century. Chioggia beets taste just like regular purple beets, but slightly sweeter. The skin is a hot pink/fuschia color, and when sliced open, the inside has beautiful pink and white stripes. Like any other beet, it can be prepared the same way; steamed, sauteed, roasted, and pickled. The greens are also edible. Sadly, the beautiful stripes fade when the beet is cooked.

Don’t throw the greens away, either – you can eat them too. The greens attached to the beet roots are delicious and can be prepared like spinach or Swiss chard. They are incredibly rich in nutrients, concentrated in vitamins and minerals as well as carotenoids such as beta-carotene and lutein/zeaxanthin.

Rumoured to have hallucinogenic properties, my wife and I love beets, and in one sitting, ate a dinner solely of a large bowl of beets each, and each of us had wildly different dreams that evening than we had ever had.