Mangelwurzel

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iMangelwurzel

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Amaranthaceae
Subfamily:	Chenopodioideae
Genus:	Beta
Species:	B. vulgaris

Binomial name

Beta vulgaris

Mangelwurzel or mangold wurzel (Beta vulgaris), is a root vegetable of the family Chenopodiaceae, genus Beta (the beets). Its large white, yellow or orange-yellow swollen roots were developed in the 1700s for feeding livestock. Contemporary use is primarily for cattle, pig and other stock feed, although this is recognised by conservers of heritage crops as being delicious eating. Considered a crop for cool-temperate climates, the mangelwurzel sown in autumn can be grown as a winter crop in warm-temperate to sub-tropical climates. Both leaves and roots may be eaten. Leaves can be lightly steamed for salads or lightly boiled as a vegetable if treated like English spinach. Grow in well-dug, well-composted soil and water regularly, the roots become tender, juicy and flavoursome. Prepare and boil roots like potato for serving mashed, diced or in sweet curries. Animals are known to thrive excellently upon this plant, both its leaves and roots providing a nutritious food. Mangelwurzel may require supplementary potassium (aka potash) for optimum yields, flavour and texture and foliage readily displays potassium deficiency as interveinal chlorosis. The name Mangel-wurzel comes from the German Mangel/Mangold, "chard", and Wurzel, "root".

[edit] Mangelwurzels in popular culture

The mangelwurzel has a history in England of being used for sport (mangold hurling), for celebration (mangold lanterns at punkie night in Somerset), for animal fodder and for the brewing of a potent alcoholic beverage.

A mangelwurzel hurling championship was revived in the north Wiltshire village of Sherston on October 7, 2006. Teams of three hurled mangelwurzels in turn, aiming to be the closest to a large leafless mangelwurzel known as 'the norman'. The inaugural winners were a local team called Mangolds for Questions, made up of Graham Hayman, John Burgess and Jennie Lamont. A junior individual championship was won by Amber Williams, aged nine.

It is also the source of the name for the English folk/pop/comedy musical group Adge Cutler and the Wurzels (now known simply as "The Wurzels" since the death of Adge Cutler in the 1970s).

Most city-dwellers in England have only the vaguest idea of what a mangelwurzel is, and tend to associate the vegetable with the stereotypical country bumpkin character in comedy. The word is even used as a double-entendre, for example by the character Rambling Syd Rumpo (Kenneth Williams). As usual, some entertainers from country towns embrace the stereotype, as above.

The first encounter with the mangelwurzel for many children may well be through the book Muddle Earth (2003) by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, in which the mangelwurzel is the staple diet of the trolls. It also appears in George Orwell's Animal Farm, in the fourth stanza of the ballad "Beasts of England."