Tesco is bidding parents a helping hand in getting their kids to eat beetroot with its latest launch, the sweetroot.
The retailer believes that as the beetroot tends to be unpopular with children, itstwo revived vibrant varieties, the organic candy stripe beetroot and the golden beetroot, which have been grown by G's Fresh,will encourage youngsters to eat the vegetable.
The candy stripe variety is officially called Chiogga, and is apparently named after the northern Italian coastal town where it was first cultivated in the early 1800s.
The golden beetroot is a Victorian variety that also goes by the name of Burpee's golden, after the American seed house where it was first grown.
The colourful veg is said to have a sweeter flavour than the dark purple original and this combined with the bright appearance is said to encourage children to eat them.
Tesco beetroot buyer Ravi Patel, said: 'Every parent knows that getting youngsters to eat vegetables is never easy, but we believe that the Candy Stripe variety will help make that dinner time task a lot simpler.
'We've worked with our main beetroot grower to see how we could encourage more people to enjoy this wonderful vegetable and discovered that this sweeter Candy Stripe variety had generally been forgotten about and never been grown on a commercial scale before.'
The new varieties have been grown by G's, the UK's biggest producers of beetroot.
G's marketing director Anthony Gardiner, said: 'We were specifically looking for varieties of beetroot that would excite the palates of a new audience of shoppers seeking healthy foods.
'We know that beetroot is becoming more popular but thought that if we could add a sweeter profile as well as introducing different coloured varieties we could help widen this wonderful vegetable's appeal.'
Both varieties will be sold in 450g packs, priced at £1.50 each.
