Can't beet this: Calgary is using beet juice as a de-icer this winter

It turns out that ice dislikes beets just as much as the rest of us.

The City of Calgary has been testing out the use of a mixture of beet juice and salt brine as a de-icing agent heading into winter 2017.

Calgary has been expecting a good helping of snow ever since Environment Canada released a snowfall warning for the city on Monday, so anything and everything that helps in clearing the roadways is a plus in our books.

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According to a release from the City of Calgary, the beet brine mixture has been tested in the past, but this is the first year that it will run a much larger trial.

And we mean large; the city has acquired a Brine Tank, a container capable of holding up to 40,000 litres of beet juice.

That’s 10,566 gallons of beet and brine mixture, for any Americans out there.

According to the Calgary roads district manager Jim Fraser, the mixture is the perfect concoction for dealing with stubborn snow.

“The beet juice uses the carbohydrate, or sugar, from beets mixed with brine, a salt/water mixture, to create something that will stick to the road when put down and break that bond of snow and ice to the surface,” said Fraser in the release.

The mixture has proven “very effective” against the snow and ice so far, says the release.