Every plant breeder dreams of creating that perfect cultivar that has all the marvelous characteristics that they’re aiming for.A cultivar that will win awards, make them rich, or gain them accolades from their
06.06.2023 - 18:14 / gardenerspath.com / Kristine Lofgren
How to Grow Sugar Beets for Food and Fodder Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris var. altissimaThese days, it’s pretty common to stumble upon a home garden where nutritious red (and orange, purple, pink, golden, or striped) table beets are growing, but sugar beets are still mostly the domain of commercial and livestock growers.
Beetroots, garden beets, table beets – whatever you call them, these are probably the type that you’re most familiar with. But sugar beets are something different.
Admittedly, that’s probably because they lack that earthy flavor and pleasant texture of their more familiar root veggie siblings. But that’s no reason for the home grower to ignore sugar beets altogether.
These plants offer many uses beyond creating the granular white stuff that we use to bake our cakes and sweeten our morning coffee.
They’re entirely edible – roots, tops, and all. Once you learn how easy it is to prepare them, you might wonder why you don’t see them around more often.
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Unlike the majority of their more famous relatives, sugar beets are creamy white and usually much, much larger. They look similar to massive potatoes with a pointy end, as if a red beet tripled in size and turned white – perhaps it saw a ghost?
As you’d expect from such large roots, these can take twice as long as table beets to mature. They also differ from their relatives in that they contain fewer vitamins and minerals, and have a texture that is quite a bit tougher.
Sugar beets have a slightly sweet, bland flavor, a bit like a potato sprinkled with a little sweetener.
This color and flavor difference comes from the fact that they lack betalains, which
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