Beta vulgaris
Beet roots are sweet and earthy, while the leaves have the mineral character of a cooking green. Root colors range from deep red to gold, white, and striped pink.1
Swiss chard is the same species as beet, selected for large leaves and stems rather than an enlarged root.2
Red beet color comes from betalain pigments rather than the anthocyanins responsible for many other red and purple fruits. Yellow beets carry a different balance of the same pigment family.3
Those pigments are water-soluble, so cutting and cooking damage cells and let the color bleed into neighboring ingredients. The earthy aroma is largely geosmin, a compound the beet root itself can produce. Cooked beets also remain unusually firm because phenolic compounds reinforce their cell walls.4
Footnotes
-
University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Food & Nutrition for the Home Gardener,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
-
University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Maine Harvest for Hunger: Produce Tips,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
-
U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, “What Would Popeye Think?,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
-
Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. (Scribner, 2004), PDF p. 323. ↩