The beet is a plant with a rounded fleshy taproot. Cultivars of the beet include

• beetroot, table beet or in the 19th century blood turnip used as a root vegetable
• Fodder beet, wurzel or mangold used as animal fodder,
• sugar beet grown for sugar
• Chard, a beet which has been bred for the leaves instead of the roots and is used as a leaf vegetable.

These are all related to the orginal Sea Beet, a maritime salt-tolerant plant of North West Europe.

Beetroot are cooked or pickled and eaten cold. The red color in the beet roots (betacyanin) causes red urine and feces in some people who are unable to break it down.

Nutritional information (beetroot/table beet)

Beets contain good amounts of vitamin C in the roots, and the tops are an excellent source of vitamin A. They are also high in folate, and soluble and insoluble dietary fiber and several antioxidants.

An average sized cup (250 ml) of sliced beets will contain:

• Food energy 31 cal (130 kJ)
• Carbohydrate 8.5 g
• Dietary fiber 1.5 g
• Folate 53.2 µg
• Phosphorus 32 mg
• Potassium 259 mg
• Protein 1.5 g

Beet recipes include borscht.