Chioggia beetroot

Betterave de Chioggia

What it is

It is named for Chioggia, the fishing town at the southern end of the Venetian lagoon, and reached American seed catalogues by the middle of the nineteenth century. The rings are pigment laid down in alternating layers as the root swells, and they are chemically fragile: the betalains bleed and blur the moment heat arrives.

In the kitchen

Slice it raw on a mandoline at one to two millimetres and dress it at the last moment; even lemon juice starts bleaching the rings within ten minutes. If you must cook it, roast it whole in foil and accept that it will come out pink — the pattern is a raw-only proposition.

Goes with

Olive oil Lemon Fennel Goat cheese Dill Pistachio

Same species

Beetroot Crapaudine beetroot Isomalt Sea beet Swiss chard Vergeoise

In season alongside

Bettarazuke Cévennes sweet onion Prickly pear Green bean Hakurei turnip Kohlrabi

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