Beetroot Chioggia
Italian heritage beetroot with pink-and-white concentric rings
The candy-striped Italian heritage beetroot - perfect pink-and-white rings when sliced raw, prized by chefs and salad-makers for visual drama nothing else can match.
About this variety
Slice a Chioggia for the first time and the reaction is involuntary. Concentric pink and white rings, perfectly even, like a cross-section of agate. An Italian heritage variety from the coastal town near Venice, grown there for over 150 years and still grown today for one reason above all others: nothing else looks like it on a plate.
The flavour is genuinely good, sweeter and milder than a red beetroot with a delicate earthiness rather than the deep intensity of Boltardy. But the eating quality is a bonus. People grow Chioggia for the look.
One thing to know before you sow it: the rings fade when cooked. Boil or roast it and the pattern blurs to a uniform rose. To keep the stripes, eat it raw — shaved thin on a mandoline, sliced into salads, or grated into a slaw. It is also a shade less bolt-resistant than Boltardy, so hold the earliest sowings back until the soil is thoroughly warm.
Plant alongside
Beetroot Chioggia pairs beautifully with these kitchen garden companions
