Traditional Chioggia Organic

Chioggia is the candy-striped Italian heirloom named for the fishing town on the lagoon south of Venice, and it travels under the older name Bassano after the Venetian hill town tied to its early history. Fedco dates it in American commerce to the 1840s, notes Fearing Burr listing it in 1863, and records Vick's catalogue offering seed at 75 cents a pound in 1877 — an unusually well-documented paper trail for a garden beet. Renee's Garden sells this certified-organic strain under the name Traditional Chioggia; it is an open-pollinated home-garden type, not a modern hybrid, so seed can be saved. What sells it is the cut surface: concentric rings of cherry red and white under a light red skin, a bullseye no solid-red beet can offer. Growers choose it for slicing raw into salads where the rings show, and Botanical Interests notes it also roasts, steams and pickles well. The leafy tops are worth eating in their own right, and thinnings go straight into salad.