Beetroot was first farmed for its leaves, not the purple root
Early farmers in the ancient Middle East grew beet for its greens; the swollen root came later, probably by Roman times. Since then it has tinted 17th-century wine, cured garlic breath according to one Renaissance writer, filled victory gardens, and landed in Australian burgers. Sugar beet and Swiss chard are the same subspecies.
Beetroot is the taproot of Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris in the Conditiva Group, sold as red or golden beet, with the tops eaten as beet greens. The wild plant is native from the Azores and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and India. The same subspecies has also been bred into sugar beet, the leaf crop Swiss chard and the fodder beet mangelwurzel. Beta was the Latin name, possibly of Celtic origin, and root comes via late Old English from Old Norse.
Domestication hinged on a genetic variant that allowed a two-year cycle, making leaves and root harvestable. Egyptians, Greeks and Romans grew it. Physical evidence is thin because charred wild and cultivated seeds look alike, yet specimens have turned up in a Third Dynasty pyramid at Saqqara and a Neolithic Dutch site, and charred remains from Roman Germany give the strongest proof of domestication. Written records reach back to Babylonia in the 8th century BC.
Beetroot has had many side jobs. Medieval healers used it for digestive and blood complaints, and Bartolomeo Platina suggested eating it with garlic to cancel the smell. In the mid-1600s its juice commonly coloured wine. After World War I, hungry Europeans living on beets alone developed what relief workers dubbed mangelwurzel disease. In World War II, gardeners planted it partly as a soil test, since healthy growth signalled soil that was not too acidic.
The kitchen uses are wide. The roots are boiled, roasted, pickled or eaten raw, and young leaves go into salads. Eastern Europe has borscht and the thicker Ukrainian stew shpundra, Lithuania serves a chilled beet soup made with kefir, and Serbia dresses it with vinegar as a winter salad. Mixed with horseradish it becomes red chrain, and in Australia and New Zealand pickled slices are a classic hamburger layer.
Source: Beetroot
