A relatively trouble-free vegetable to grow and packed with health-enhancing properties, beetroot's star is on the rise once again, writes FIONNUALA FALLON

BEETROOT, MOST urban farmers will agree, is one of those "love-em-or-loathe-em" types of vegetable - the mere sight of its swollen, blood-red roots is enough to make some people shudder with disgust while others simply can't get enough.

It's also a vegetable that's been in the headlines quite a bit recently, thanks to its status as one of the new superfoods that we've been hearing so much about.

Recommended for convalescents as a blood-builder, cleanser and tonic, beetroot (or blood turnip, as it was once commonly known) is also believed to lower blood pressure, enhance the immune system and be of benefit to the digestive system. Anti-carcinogenic substances have been found in the vegetable (in particular, betalaine, the naturally occurring pigment which gives the beetroot its distinctive colour) while a recent UK study suggested that drinking beetroot juice can help the performance of professional athletes by allowing them to exercise for up to 16 per cent longer.

On a cruder, ruder note, some beetroot devotees will also testify to the vegetable's ability to turn their urine a delicate shade of rose-pink, a harmless process known as beeturia which affects about 14 per cent of the population.

Interestingly, or at least I think so, is the fact that a tendency to beeturia is also affected by other factors, such as the variety of beetroot and how it's been prepared - pigment concentration depends on the particular variety, while pickled beetroot (but not boiled beetroot) is a typical cause of beeturia.

In the OPW's walled organic kitchen garden in the Phoenix Park, gardeners Meeda Downey and Brian Quinn have been growing repeat crops of the vegetable since late spring, including the turnip-rooted variety, Egyptian; the orange-fleshed variety Burpee's Golden and most recently, the candy-striped, globe-shaped Chioggia Pink which they last sowed in mid-July.

They've found it to be an easy, trouble-free vegetable to grow, with few worries as regards pests and diseases.

"Although we did notice that Burpee's Golden isn't as good a grower as the others," says Brian. "It was slower to swell and Helen, the owner of the Phoenix Café, where much of the surplus produce from the walled garden goes, found that while it was okay when it was very fresh, it went off quickly. She much preferred the Egyptian variety."

When it comes to harvesting and cooking beetroot, there are a few basic rules that will help to prevent its dark red juices from staining everything in your kitchen.

"You don't want it to bleed," says Meeda. "So try to damage the root as little as possible when it comes to digging or pulling it up. The aim is to leave both the skin and the whiskery, fine roots as intact as you can."

In the walled kitchen garden, Meeda and Brian harvest the crop when the roots have roughly reached the size of a tennis-ball, gently pulling up the entire plant, leaves and all - the rest of the preparation is then left up to Helen in the Phoenix Café.

But the standard advice, once you've picked it, is to leave at least 5cm of stalk at the top of the beetroot and only remove any leaves above this by twisting, not cutting.

Rinse the root carefully under the tap but don't on any account scrub it vigorously or, worse still, peel it, for this allows the vegetable to release its blood-red pigment, with all-too-predictable results.

Alternatively, if you find the colour very off-putting, look out for the creamy-fleshed Albina, which won't present the same problems.

Beetroot Recipes

While many people boil the root, cookery writer Jane Grigson believed the flavour was better when it was wrapped in foil and baked slowly at a low temperature.

But if you want to be really adventurous, you could try making borscht, an Eastern European soup made from beetroot and traditionally served with sour cream and dumplings. It's worth making if just to marvel at the colour, which is an intense, raspberry pink, making it look like something straight out of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

To find out more log on to www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes for the recipe, along with many others including Nigella Lawson's beetroot and ginger chutney and Mrs Beeton's original recipe for pickled beetroot.

Of course, you don't have to eat your crop of beetroot straight away, for it can be either lifted and stored in early autumn, or else (in mild, well-drained gardens, at least) left in the ground over winter.

To store it, you'll need a wooden box and some sand (or peat, or sawdust). Lift the roots with care, twist off the top of the stalks as mentioned earlier, and then place them gently on a layer of sand in the box.

Make sure the roots aren't touching and cover each subsequent layer with more sand, before placing the box in a cool, frost-free place.

Greedy mice can discover this stash during the winter months, so take precautions if necessary.

In the walled garden, Meeda and Brian will probably have harvested the last of the beetroot before winter kicks in, with the final sowing of the Chioggia Pink variety back in July being ready to eat by mid-to-late September.

But those urban farmers with mild, well-drained gardens can leave their surplus beetroot crop in the ground for a while longer, as long as it's one of the round-rooted varieties.

Other varieties with long, tapering roots, such as Cylindra or Forona, are not so suitable for overwintering in the ground although they will store well indoors as described above. Give the overwintering crop some protection from harsh frosts by covering it with a layer of straw (prevent this from blowing away by covering it in turn with a loose layer of garden netting, pegged down along its sides).

Alternatively, you can use something like garden fleece, but again, just make sure that it's well pegged down in case of strong winds.

A little-known advantage of overwintering beetroot like this is that the young leaves can also be eaten right through until spring.

So even if the beetroot itself has gone past the point of being edible (which will gradually happen as the root toughens with age), the leaves can be harvested and cooked just like spinach.

You could also try cooking them in a little apple juice, which some say improves the flavour hugely.

Beetroot Leaves

Alternatively, treat the overwintering beetroot like a CCA (cut-and-come-again) crop, and eat the very young leaves and shoots in spring salads (the leaves are also choc-a-bloc with beneficial nutrients and antioxidants like beta-carotene, calcium, iron and vitamin A).

Some varieties of beetroot also have particularly decorative leaves, which makes them a good candidate for the more ornamental, potager-style garden. Vegetable expert Joy Larkcom uses the variety Bull's Blood this way in both her summer and winter plots, and recommends it for its deep leaf colour as well as its hardiness.

Other beetroot varieties with colourful leaves that Larkcom recommends include MacGregor's Favourite (bright red, arrow-shaped leaves) and Cook's Delight (dark red leaves).

So, entirely edible, highly ornamental, long-lasting, versatile, easy-to-grow and exceptionally good for you - whether you love it or loathe it - the humble beetroot is one of the quiet stars of the kitchen garden. Whoever would have thought it . . .

The OPW's Victorian walled kitchen garden is in the grounds of the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre, beside the Phoenix Park Café and Ashtown Castle. The gardens are open daily from 10am to 4.30pm

Next week, Urban Farmer in Property will cover cauliflower and cutworms

Fionnuala Fallon is a garden designer and writer