Beetroot

Beetroots are crops added to Pocket Edition 0.8 Alpha. They are similar to carrots and potatoes. They function like wheat: they drop both a food item, and seeds which can be then replanted on farmland.

Appearance
When held in-hand, beetroots look similar to spider eyes, but more round and pink. They can be obtained in the same way that you obtain wheat seeds, and are farmed in the same way as well. They do not have to be placed near a water source like sugar cane.

Usage
Beetroots themselves are edible, but they can be crafted with a bowl to form beetroot soup and can be crafted into rose red dye. But, you can still smelt red mushrooms into dyes. One can also breed pigs with beetroots by tapping and holding a pig with a beetroot in one's hand which also means that pigs will follow the player if the player is holding a beetroot.

Farming
You can obtain beetroot seeds in the same way that you first obtain wheat seeds. In 0.8.0, the beetroot will grow on normal farmland (normal as in it does not have to be by a water source like sugar cane).

Trivia

 * It is difficult to obtain beetroots due to beetroot seeds having a 1/15 chance of popping from grass when hoed. In a future update there will be an easier way to obtain beetroot seeds (and beetroots).