Beets

History

Beetroot remains have been excavated in the Third dynasty Saqqara pyramid at Thebes, Egypt, and four charred beetroot fruits were found in the Neolithic site of Aartswoud in the Netherlands. But it is difficult to determine whether these are domesticated or wild forms of B. vulgaris. Zohary and Hopf note that beetroot is "linguistically well identified." They state the earliest written mention of the beet comes from 8th century BC Mesopotamia; the Greek Peripatetic Theophrastus later describes the beet as similar to the radish. "Roman and Jewish literary sources indicate that already in the 1st century BC domestic beet was represented in the Mediterranean basin by leafy forms (chard) and very probably also by beetroot cultivars."With the imposition of the blockade of the continent during the Napoleonic Wars there was an impetus to develop beetroot for their sugar content. Beet historians have long argued that the term “bonbon de naturel” or “natures candy” came into the popular vernacular during this time period. [1]

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