The beet takes its name from the Latin name for the plant, beta. In English, the earliest reference to beets occurs in an eleventh-century manuscript devoted to the medicinal properties of plants; after that there are no written references to the red root-vegetable until the fifteenth century. During this four-hundredyear gap, beets were planted every spring and harvested every fall; they were eaten regularly by every person in England; their tops and leaves were fed to thousands of hungry pigs; and yet it appears that not once did the beet inspire anyone who possessed pen, paper, and the ability to write, to jot down its name, even in passing.
Beets are an easily grown root vegetable that are cultivated in many varieties in the United States and are available year-round. They contain a fair amount of sugar, and one type is the source of much of the sugar used in this country.