Giant Beetroot.

Hi everyone.

Yesterday I was given a beetroot by a friend. It weighed 1 kilo. I was rather dubious about whether it would be edible, but never the less I cooked it and it is lovely.

Anyone got any bigger ones? I would be interested to know.

The ones in our garden which is only 100 yards from hers are just about ready to eat, having had to re-sow due to the bad weather.

Heavens above. You'd've sworn it would have to be woody. Obviously some varieties are better than others, but if I overlook one of mine and it gets to anything like that size, it wouldn't be out of place as a knob on a banister.

Hi Italophile.

 Cannon Ball was my OH description, I think we will be eating it for ever!

Way back when I was a child people would leave their beetroot to grow huge - yes they were a bit woody, but given that the only thing people ever did with them was to boil them to death and then slice and put them in a jar with malt vinegar, what did it matter?  They were going to be horrid anyway 

No wonder beetroot went out of fashion!

But more recently people have realised that small and tender is the way to go with a lot of root veg, and what a transformation - beetroot is now a 'fashionable vegetable' 

But I bet there are still gardeners and allotment holders out there growing beetroot in the way their fathers and their fathers before them did 

I think I'll let mine develop into medicine balls to hurl at the stray cats that like to potter into my garden and dig up any living thing in sight.

I love beetroot.

We just pulled our first attempts up and pickled them brings back childhood memories of pink wee, the tasters I took tasted great, though I'm not sure of the weight of them.  They werent overly big.

This particular beetroot was in my friends garden set in amongst the flowers. As she has been having a lot of building work done, the garden had been a little neglected. I think the one or two she had left were just there for the visual effect and virtually forgotten. We were just having a potter about admiring the blooms when she found them.

I agree with Dovefromabove, the best way to eat beetroot is when it's small, raw or cooked as a veg, but I still like it in vinegar.