Sea Beet

This plant is thought to be the ancestor of most, if not all, the cultivated varieties of beet – from beetroot to spinach-beet. The use of beet probably dates from prehistoric times when the leaves were almost certainly used as pot-herbs. The Romans fed it to animals and men and it was taken from Italy to northern Europe by the barbarian invaders. By the 16th century it was widely used for feeding animals, particularly during the winter. The root has no value as food but the leaves form an excellent green vegetable, picked from April to December and cooked as you would spinach.