8 Types of Beets! And what you can do with it
There are a number of types of beets, of which beetroot is the best known to eat. In addition, there are also beets that have been forgotten and beets that are given to animals to eat. Finally, there is also a beet of which you only eat the leaves. What types of beets are there:
There are 8 types of beets:
- Chioggia beets
- Yellow beets
- Red beets
- Original beets
- Swiss chard
- Sugar beets
- White beets
- Fodder beet
If you want to know the difference of all these beets, you can sit down because here they are, 8 types of beets.
Chioggia beetroot
This beautiful-looking beet has a wonderfully sweet and soft taste. You can eat these raw, cooked or roasted in the oven. Raw, this Chioggia beet looks beautiful when you cut thin slices. This beet is white and red striped when you cut it down the middle from top to bottom. That will really be a party on your plate when you process this beet raw. When cooked, the beet loses its white color. If you still want to cook this beet, it will take 30 to 45 minutes before it is cooked.
Chioggia beet is available all year round and is one of the ‘forgotten vegetables’. Read our ‘ Forgotten Vegetables ‘ blog for more information.
The Yellow Beet
The yellow beet is actually a color variant of the beetroot. It has a slightly sweeter taste. This yellow beet can be cooked and roasted in the oven, but raw, in a salad for example, it is also delicious.
In addition, the color yellow looks fantastic with a green salad, but also mixed with other colors of beets. A lust for the eye!
The Red Beet
The beetroot is the best known beet and is also known as beetroot. With its sweet earthy taste, it ends up cooked on many plates with the evening meal. Roasted from the oven, thinly sliced in a salad or stewed, it’s all possible. The beetroot can therefore be prepared in many ways. You can read more information about preparing beetroot in our blog about this.
You have summer beets that are somewhat smaller than winter beets and are harvested about mid-July. The winter beets are harvested from September to November.
Original beets
The primeval beet was already grown in 1700. Now it is a forgotten vegetable but can still be found at the grower. The beetroot is an elongated tuber that is also red/white striped when you cut it.
It is especially suitable for eating raw, cut into thin slices or julienne. The taste is sweet and full of aroma.
Swiss chard
This Swiss chard is a completely different variety than the beetroot described above. Chard does not come from a tuber but are ‘just’ leaves that can be eaten.
It is family of the beet. The leaves of Swiss chard can be harvested small and eaten as lettuce. When large leaves of chard are for sale, you can stir-fry them. Chard has a bit of an earthy taste in between endive and spinach.
Read our blog ‘ Multiple Swiss Chard Recipes ‘ and you will immediately know what you can prepare with Swiss chard.
White beetroot
The taste of beet is a lot sweeter than the beets described above. It is also a forgotten vegetable and not for sale in the supermarket.
There are growers who grow these white beets. They are mainly still available for the professional kitchen.
Sugar beet
Sugar beet is a hard beet from which sugar is extracted in the Netherlands and Belgium. The sugar beet is edible but very hard and is therefore not put on the table to eat.
The beetroot is a variant of the sugar beet and much more edible.
Fodder beet
Fodder beet is not something we humans put on the table. Fodder beet is (again) used to feed livestock. The fodder beet is closely related to the sugar beet, only there is much less sugar in the fodder beet. Less sugar content is better for the cows.
These beets are only harvested when they weigh 1 to 2 kilograms. So real big tubers. The fodder beet leaves can also be eaten by the animals and are only given just after the harvest. Fodder beet is now again mixed with winter grass to make the winter grass tasty for cows. It seems that cows really like fodder beets.
These are the 8 types of beets.
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