Ingredient Spotlight: Chioggia Beet

Look at this pretty striped vegetable! Artificially colored? Genetically modified? From an alien planet? No, it's a chiogga beet, also known as the candy cane beet and the bullseye beet, and it's a heirloom beet from Italy.

The chioggia beet came from the Italian coastal town of Chioggia, near Venice. It's been around since the early 19th-century. It tastes just like regular purple beets, maybe a little sweeter. The skin is a hot pink/fuchsia 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.

I often find chiogga beets at the local farmer's markets, Whole Foods, and the local organic co-op. Seeds can also be purchased online if you'd like to add some to your garden.

(Image: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (3)

You can also eat them raw. Shave very thin slices on a microplane and toss into a salad of spicy greens (e.g. arugula) with hazelnuts and hazelnut oil in the dressing. You will be floored. I promise. I also add some roasted golden beets as well.

Mmmmmmmm, m!

I grew these very beets this spring and ate them in a salad.

Julienned beets, apple, dressed with a little olive oil and wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and, very importantly, some crumbled danish feta cheese. It was my very favourite salad of the year.

Not one made it in to a saucepan! I'll try adding hazelnuts next time.

Why do I dislike this beet so much? I grew a batch and couldn't stand the taste. I gave everything I grew to friends. I love beets so that's not it. These just have a really strange after taste to them and they altered the taste of everything I ate for next fifteen minutes. I also tried a beet from the farmers market so I know it's not the batch I grew.