HISTORY
Red beet is native to the Mediterranean basin, and the first historical and archaeological traces precede 2000 B.C., when its cultivation began in North Africa, rapidly expanding to Greece and the Middle East. The oldest document on red beet is a Babylonian catalog from the 7th century B.C., but it was already widely used by the ancient Greeks, who called it téutlon, then transferring it to the Roman world. Initially used as an ornament, both the Greeks and Romans started consuming its leaves, discovering the excellent medicinal properties of the plant. Its importance and cultural significance, aided by the captivating intense red color, are found in the works of numerous historians, botanists, and naturalists of the time, including Theophrastus, Columella, and Pliny the Elder. With time, red beet began to spread through Spain and France, initially through monastery cultivations and later through farmers. Starting from the 13th century, it extended throughout Central Europe, and the Germanic populations started developing different varieties: the red beet cultivated in Italy today was introduced from Germany around the 15th century. The use of the plant’s roots for food purposes, which have now become the symbol of beets, dates back to the 17th century and is connected to the discovery of the sugar that can be extracted from it. In 1747, the Prussian chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf began to commercially produce sugar and opened the first factory in 1801 in Cunern, Poland.