beet

Hiller’s charm is also undeniable when we have rosé and share a plate of beet hummus at a restaurant near his Lower East Side apartment.

The company makes so much candy, between all of its brands, that it supports an army of smaller manufacturers around the United States: the companies that make the sucker sticks in North Carolina and New York, the Wisconsin company that makes Dum Dum wrappers, the midwestern companies that make the cardboard for the company’s boxes, the sugar beet growers up in Michigan.

Beet red and embarrassed, I turned away.

Neonicotinoid pesticides were banned in the UK in 2018 but have been approved four times in a row in emergencies to tackle a virus that attacks sugar beet.

Or if I taste a fantastic beet from Weiser Family Farms, I’ll buy it.