beet

beet

beet biennial or annual root vegetable of the family Chenopodiaceae ( goosefoot family). The beet ( Beta vulgaris ) has been cultivated since pre-Christian times. Among its numerous varieties are the red, or garden, beet, the sugar beet, Swiss chard, and several types of mangel-wurzel and other stock feeds. Both the roots and the foliage of the red beet are edible, as is the foliage of Swiss chard and similar varieties. The easily stored roots of the mangel-wurzel [Ger.,=beet root] are much used for fodder in Europe and Canada and to a lesser extent in the United States. The biennial beet is often used in crop rotation. The foliage of the sugar beet and several other varieties is also used as feed. The sugar beet, cultivated commercially throughout the temperate zone, to which it is well adapted, provides about one third of the world's commercial sugar production; virtually all the rest comes from sugarcane . In the United States, sugar beets are grown extensively from Michigan to Idaho and in California, accounting for more than half of United States sugar production. Since the 18th cent. selective breeding has raised the root's sucrose content from 2% or 4% to 15% and even 20%. The extracted beet sucrose, dissolved in water, is refined and granulated, much like cane juice, to make sugar. Beets are classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Magnoliopsida, order Caryophyllales, family Chenopodiaceae.

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"beet." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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beet

beet Vegetable native to Europe and parts of Asia, and cultivated in most cool regions. Its leaves are green or red and edible, though it is generally grown for its thick red or golden root. Some varieties are eaten as a vegetable, others are a source of sugar, and some are used as fodder. Family Chenopodiaceae; species Beta vulgaris. See also sugar beet

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"beet." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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beet

beet / bēt/ • n. a herbaceous plant (Beta vulgaris) of the goosefoot family, widely cultivated as a source of food for humans and livestock, and for processing into sugar. Some varieties are grown for their leaves and some for their swollen nutritious root.

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"beet." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"beet." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-beet.html

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beet

beet OE. bēte = MLG., MDu. bēte, OHG. bieza; early WGmc. — L. bēta, perh. of Celtic orig. Unrecorded between OE. and late ME., when its currency was prob. due to LG.
Hence beetroot XVI.

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T. F. HOAD. "beet." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "beet." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-beet.html

T. F. HOAD. "beet." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-beet.html

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beet

beet, leaf, sea kale, silver, spinach, or white leaf. See Swiss chard.

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DAVID A. BENDER. "beet." A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

DAVID A. BENDER. "beet." A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O39-beet.html

DAVID A. BENDER. "beet." A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. 2005. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O39-beet.html

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beet

beetaccrete, beat, beet, bittersweet, bleat, cheat, cleat, clubfeet, compete, compleat, complete, conceit, Crete, deceit, delete, deplete, discreet, discrete, eat, effete, élite, entreat, escheat, estreat, excrete, feat, feet, fleet, gîte, greet, heat, leat, leet, Magritte, maltreat, marguerite, meat, meet, mesquite, mete, mistreat, neat, outcompete, peat, Pete, petite, pleat, receipt, replete, seat, secrete, sheet, skeet, sleet, splay-feet, street, suite, sweet, teat, treat, tweet, wheat •backbeat • heartbeat • deadbeat •breakbeat • offbeat • browbeat •downbeat • drumbeat • upbeat •sugar beet • Blackfeet • flatfeet •forefeet • exegete • polychaete •lorikeet • parakeet •athlete, biathlete, decathlete, heptathlete, pentathlete, triathlete •kick-pleat • paraclete • obsolete •gamete • crabmeat • sweetmeat •mincemeat • forcemeat • backstreet •concrete • window seat

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"beet." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"beet." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-beet.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Beets with yogurt sherbet, pumpernickel and blueberries (serves 4).(Recipe)
Magazine article from: Art Culinaire; 5/22/2012
Beet it!(THE HOME FORUM)
Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor; 10/15/2008
BEET IT!(Recipe)
Magazine article from: Vegetarian Journal; 9/1/2000

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beet. (Image by Quadell, GFDL)