Gone are the days of refusing to eat your beets: these glorious white, red, golden and Chioggia varieties are sweet and flavoursome. This isn’t something we’d say about any other life form, but they’re best eaten when they’re babies. For sexy salads, these beets can’t be beat. Use them hot or cold and even the kids can be conned into eating them. Steam the tender stems and leaves as an alternative to spinach and get major brownie points for using every bit of the plant.