Beet (Beta), a genus of Chenopodiaceæ (q.v.). The species are not numerous; they are mostly biennials, with smooth, ovate, stalked root-leaves, and tall, leafy, flowering stems. They are natives of the temperate parts of the Old World. The Common Beet (B. vulgaris) is a native of the shores of the Mediterranean, but is now in very general cultivation both in fields and gardens, chiefly for the sake of its large succulent roots, which are used as food for man and cattle, and from which also sugar is extracted (see SUGAR). The variety known as Red Beet is the most esteemed for garden cultivation. Of this there are many sub-varieties, distinguished by the form of their roots, some being tap-rooted or carrot-like, others turnip-shaped, and by the depth of purple or crimson colour they all more or less exhibit. The darkest crimson coloured are the most highly esteemed, partly on account of their more pleasing appearance when cooked, but also because they contain a larger amount of mucilage and saccharine matter than the lighter tinted kinds. Roots of medium size are preferred to those that are larger. It forms a favourite pickle, is used in salads, and is also very agreeable as a boiled vegetable when properly dressed. It is more nutritive and whole- some than any other cultivated root except the potato. When deprived of the greater part of their juice by pressure, the roots may be used as a substitute for malt. They have also in times of scarcity been ground and mixed with flour for bread-making in continental countries. The seed is sown late in spring that the plants may not produce flowering stems the first year, which would render the root fibrous and useless.—Mangoldwurzel (q.v.), so valuable as a field-crop for food of cattle, is, in general, regarded as merely a larger and coarser variety of the common beet, in which the red colour is comparatively little exhibited.—The White Beet of our gardens (B. cicla of some botanists) is now also generally supposed to be a mere variety of the common beet, with little or no red in its roots or leaves, and a comparatively slender root. It is cultivated for the sake of its leaves, which are used in the same manner as spinach, and form an excellent substitute for it, especially in summer, when heat and drought deprive it of its essential succulence. The leaf-stalks and midribs of the leaves, especially of a variety in which these parts are unusually developed, are blanched and dressed for table in the same manner as sea-kale, and named Chards. Sea-beet (B. maritima) grows wild upon the shores of Britain, and differs from the common beet in its perennial root, its partly prostrate stems, and other characters. The leaves are used for food in Ireland, as are also those of B. Bengalensis in the East Indies.
The process of making beet-sugar will be treated at SUGAR. The development of this manufacture in France, Austria, and Germany has enormously extended the cultivation of beet-root, and the importations of beet-sugar have seriously affected the sugar trade in Britain. The quantity of beet-root sugar made in Europe in the season 1850–51 is estimated at 160,000 tons; in 1884–85, it was 2,510,000 tons, which is times the total imports into Europe of tropical sugar in 1851. The importation of tropical sugar has not merely not increased in the same proportion, but has in some places actually diminished. The growth of the manufacture has been especially rapid in Germany, where in 1863–83 the production of sugar increased by 338 per cent. The production in Austria doubled in 1872–82; in France the growth has not been so rapid, though manufacture and exportation are stimulated by bounties. The comparative production of sugar from cane and beet and other relevant figures will be found at SUGAR, Vol. IX. pp. 789–790. In Germany, by improved processes, nearly 11 per cent. of sugar is obtained from a given weight of beet-root; 9.26 cwts. of beet produce 1 cwt. of sugar. It should be noted that a large proportion (from to ) of the saccharine matter of the sugar-cane is not saccharose, but glucose, which is not available for sugar; whereas in beet there is little or no glucose at all, nearly the whole of the saccharine matter being saccharose.
The question of growing beet for sugar-making has been repeatedly raised in Ireland, and two unsuccessful attempts have been made to establish factories for the purpose. Irish beet-root has been grown containing from 10 to 14 per cent. of sugar. For sugar-raising, beet should be sown early, and not taken out of the ground till November; and close-growing of the roots favours the production of sugar.