By Nik Crawley, founder of GardenTrack · Updated July 22, 2026
✓ In your garden
Chioggia is the candy-stripe beet — an Italian heirloom that, sliced raw, reveals a pink-and-white concentric bullseye that's one of the prettiest things in the garden. It's also sweeter, milder, and far less staining than a red beet, which makes it a favorite even with beet skeptics. The one honest catch: those gorgeous rings are heat-sensitive and fade in the pot, so eat it raw or roast whole and slice at the last minute.
it's yours — saved right here, no account
a Chioggia beet sliced across to reveal the concentric pink/red-and-white bullseye rings, beside a whole root · Photo: Michel Chauvet
(CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
· source
Candy-stripe ringsItalian heirloomMild & sweet
“Slice it raw and it's a pink-and-white bullseye — a mild, sweet, barely-staining beet with a showstopper interior.”
Days to maturity50–60 dayspullable young from ~50
Rootround globe, 1–3 inpink-orange skin
Interiorpink & white ringswhen sliced raw
Staininglowfar less than red beets
Looks (raw)Showstopper 5/5
Sliced raw, the concentric pink/red-and-white bullseye is stunning on a plate — the whole reason to grow it.
FlavorSweet & mild 5/5
Notably sweet and gentle — less earthy than a red beet, and it bleeds and stains far less. The greens taste like fine young chard.
Rings survive cooking?No — they fade 2/5
The pigments are heat-sensitive: boiling or roasting fades the bullseye to a muddy pale pink. Eat it raw (or roast whole and slice at the last moment) to keep the pattern.
Ring consistencyVaries plant to plant 3/5
Not every root shows a crisp bullseye — contrast varies, so some are bolder than others.
The rings are the magic and the catch — gorgeous raw, gone in the pot.
SweetMildLow-earthyNon-staining
✓ Beautiful raw + sweet + tidy~ Rings fade when cooked — eat raw✗ Not a bold, earthy red beet
Numbers from university growing guides. Ratings are our take, judged against all beets. Tap a meter to see why.
Growing basics — shared by every beet
Chioggia grows like any other beet. The full picture — how deep to plant, spacing, feeding, pests, harvest — lives on the Beet page so it's maintained in one place.
Greenhouse or cover on: your start slides ~4 weeks earlier and your harvest stretches ~3 weeks later (shown striped).
Planting seeds straight in the ground only works where the season's long and warm — most gardeners start seeds indoors or buy young plants, or you'd pick your first tomato right as frost hits.
Comfortable — first ripe fruit lands around mid May, well before your typical frost (~late Oct).
Plant seeds outside
late Mar – early Apr
Growing
early Apr – mid May
Picking
mid May – early Jun
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP above for yours.
What to plant near Chioggia — and what to keep away
✓ Good neighbors
Cabbage familyTraditional
On the classic chart's companion list for the cabbage family.
Onions & garlicTraditional
Chart canon, both directions.
✗ Keep apart
The badge is the honesty.Trialed = a published field trial · Practical = a real mechanism · Traditional = companion-chart lore. These pairings hold for every beet.
Pairings compiled from West Virginia University Extension.
Growing Chioggia — the things that trip people up
To actually see the bullseye, eat it raw — slice thin for salads or a carpaccio — or roast it whole and slice just before serving. Boiling or roasting-then-storing fades the rings to a pale, muddy pink because the pigments are heat-sensitive.
It's sweeter and much less earthy than a red beet, and it barely stains, so it's the beet for people who think they don't like beets. The paler-green tops are excellent — cook them like young chard.
Grow it like any beet: cool season, direct sow, thin each seedball to one plant every few inches, and pull at golf-ball to tennis-ball size before it turns woody.
From university growing guides (see Sources).
Where Chioggia comes from
Chioggia is named for a fishing town on the southern edge of the Venetian lagoon — a place nicknamed 'little Venice.' It's an old Italian heirloom, documented by the French seed house Vilmorin back in 1840 and grown in the United States since at least the 1860s.
Local farmers selected it over generations for that striped flesh and its sweet, mild taste. You'll also see it sold as 'Rossa di Chioggia,' 'Bull's Eye,' 'Candy Cane,' or 'Peppermint' — all pointing at the same ringed interior.
The bullseye — and the catch
Slice a Chioggia across the middle and you get the payoff: alternating concentric rings of rosy pink and white, a natural bullseye that looks almost painted. Thin-sliced raw in a salad, it's one of the most striking things you can grow.
Here's the honest catch, and it's the thing to know before you plant it: those rings are made of heat-sensitive pigments. Boil or roast the beet and the bullseye fades to a muddy, near-uniform pale pink. So if you want the pattern on the plate, eat it raw — or roast it whole and slice it at the very last moment. And ring contrast varies plant to plant, so not every root is a perfect target.
Sweet, mild, and it won't stain your kitchen
Beyond the looks, Chioggia has two real advantages over a standard red beet. It's noticeably sweeter and milder — less of that earthy, muddy 'beety' note — which makes it the beet to hand someone who swears they hate beets.
And it bleeds far less. Where a red beet turns your hands, board, and every neighboring ingredient magenta, Chioggia stays tidy. The paler-green tops are excellent too — several taste tests rank them among the best beet greens, tasting like fine young Swiss chard.
Growing Chioggia
Grow it like any beet: it's a cool-season crop, so direct-sow the seed in spring and again in late summer for fall, and keep the moisture steady. It's quick — roots are pullable young from around 50 days.
Thin the seedlings: each beet 'seed' is a cluster that sprouts several plants, so thin to one every few inches or the roots crowd into small knobs. Set your zone on the beet page and the calendar pins your sow and harvest dates.
When to pull it
Pull at golf-ball to tennis-ball size — about 1 to 3 inches, with 1.5–2 inches the most tender. Don't let the roots oversize, or they turn woody like any beet.
Because the showpiece is the raw interior, plan to slice fresh: pull, scrub, and slice thin for a salad, or roast whole and cut at the last second. The greens are worth harvesting the whole time — take young outer leaves as you go.
What goes wrong — and the fixes
Disappointing 'faded' beets. Almost always because they were boiled or roasted, which washes out the rings — that's the pigment, not bad seed. Eat them raw or roast whole and slice last-minute to keep the bullseye.
Weak rings or crowded roots. Ring contrast naturally varies, so grow a few and you'll get bolder ones. And skip the thinning at your peril — crowded seedlings give small, tangled roots. Keep the water even to avoid tough or split beets.
Chioggia beet at a glance
Chioggia Beet — at a glance
Type
Chioggia
Days to ripe
55 days after you plant it outside
Color
Striped
Extra fields from seed-catalog listings and university growing guides. Days to ripe and disease resistance shift with your climate and seed source — double-check with your local extension office before you buy.
Watch: growing Chioggia
How to Grow Beets — complete growing guide · MIgardenerGrowing beets from seed to harvest — the definitive guide · The Ripe Tomato Farms
Embedded from their creators on YouTube — full credit and views go to the channel.
Add Chioggia to your garden
Save it and the plant lights up — kept right here in your browser, no account needed. It's the first thing GardenTrack starts remembering for you.
Chioggia is in your garden.
Kept on this device. Want it safe if your browser clears or you switch phones? Back it up free — just your email, no password.
GardenTrack is in beta now — it'll remember every plant you add here and tell you what to do and when. One email, no spam.
Common questions about Chioggia
Why did my Chioggia beet lose its stripes when cooked?
That's expected — the pink-and-white rings are made of heat-sensitive pigments, so boiling or roasting fades the bullseye to a muddy pale pink. To keep the pattern, eat it raw (sliced thin in salads) or roast the beet whole and slice it just before serving.
Does Chioggia beet taste different from a red beet?
Yes — it's noticeably sweeter and milder, with less of the earthy, muddy note of a red beet, and it stains far less. That mildness makes it a favorite even with people who don't usually like beets. Its greens are excellent, like fine young chard.
How do you get the bullseye pattern to show?
Slice the raw root across the middle — the concentric pink-and-white rings show best raw and thin-sliced. If you want to cook it, roast it whole and slice at the last moment; boiling or long cooking fades the rings. Ring contrast also varies plant to plant.
Does Chioggia beet stain like a red beet?
Much less. Unlike red beets, which turn hands, boards, and nearby food magenta, Chioggia bleeds only lightly — one of its practical advantages, along with its sweeter, milder flavor.
Garden
