BEET

one of the most important food-roots. The small, delicate, garden varieties, generally round and red, are popular as a table vegetable, both fresh cooked and pickled; the sugar-beet, usually conical and white, furnishes about half of the world’s sugar supply (see Svear) and large quantities of alcohol; and the mangels and other coarser types are valuable as cattle-food. The sugar percentage of the ordinary table beet is often as high as 10%. For use as a vegetable, beets are generally boiled, but some people prefer baking. which gives a deeper color and retains more of the natural juices. The red-fleshed kinds are most popular but some yellow strains are fine in flavor and especially sugary. Several varieties are grown exclusively for their tops or leaves, the most important being Swi chard (see CHarp). The green tops of young beets of the ordinary root types also make good greens. (See further references in the general article on VEGETABLES. ) If stored in cellars, beets should be covered with sand or soil to prevent shriveling.