Good Question: What is Beet Heet?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Today’s Good Question is: What is Beet Heet?

Beet Heet is the brand name of a deicer that uses sugars from beets to help melt ice.

In the 1990s, crews in the midwest started adding beet juice to their road salt to help it stick to roads and lower the effective temperature of the salt. The juice was a byproduct of beet sugar, so it was readily available.

That technology has evolved since then. The company that makes Beet Heet says it contains no beet juice but does contain processed beet molasses.

It contains four chlorides, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium, and four different sugars, sucrose, glucose, fructose, and raffinose.

The company says the dark color also makes salt treated with it absorb more solar radiation than traditional salt.

The company says it can be added to both rock salt and brine. so the next time you hear road crews talking about Beet Heet, know that that is a specific product they’re referencing.

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