Azuma

Azuma is an F1 hybrid table beet bred by Sakata and aimed squarely at the hot end of the calendar. The trait Sakata leads with is colour stability under heat: the roots are meant to stay uniformly dark with little or no internal zoning through summer, the point at which many red beets start throwing pale rings. Plants carry a semi-upright top, which suits bunching, and Sakata lists the variety across bunch, fresh, mature, processing and root market segments. Territorial Seed, which retails it to home growers, treats it as an all-purpose red beet you can take at baby size, grow on to full size, or crop for greens. Sakata describes it as a newer release carrying improved horticultural traits rather than a reworking of an existing line.