Beetroot: selected cultivars: Red Ace

Beetroot: Red Ace F1

Grown on my allotment in 2004

Globe roots. Medium to large, with very good growth characteristics.

Consistently one of the highest ranked in taste tests. Sweet and very tasty, with excellent smooth texture.

Red Ace F1 is a well-established globe-rooted hybrid, introduced by the Alf Christianson Seed Company in 1981. According to seed catalogues, it displays hybrid vigour and has a better germination rate, faster spring growth, more uniform root shape, and a greater degree of resistance to disease such as Cercospora than most beetroot.

It performs well under dry conditions and resists bolting, enabling it to be sown early. It can be grown as a main crop with regular, round to oval roots that have a deep unblemished red colour without fibrous rings. The bright green leaves hold their quality during the summer and can be cooked at an age when the greens of many other beetroot have gone past the eating stage. The roots are sweet-tasting due to a relatively high sugar content. It is a popular show variety.