Chioggia Beet

An Italian market beet with concentric rings of rose and white inside a plain orange-red skin — nobody expects it until the knife goes through. Milder and sweeter than a standard red beet, and it will not bleed all over everything else on the cutting board. Roast in wedges to keep the rings visible; boiling fades them to pale pink. The greens are excellent, so thin generously and eat the thinnings.

Where it comes from. From the fishing town of Chioggia near Venice, in gardens since the 1840s.