Salty Beets

The is about the strangest thing to happen since I have been growing my own local food. Last winter, I planted some beets in an area with poor soil and low water. I harvested a few small beets, but others were eaten by animals and forgotten. There was one beet that survived, and I watered it here and there over the summer and otherwise left it alone.
I had some other beets (Bull's Blood) that were grown in a similar harsh manner and they were the sweetest beets I had ever grown, so I didn't think that this new beet would be any different.
Wow! Was I surprised! The beet (a Detroggia that turned out mostly orange) was small and hard, and there was hardly any sugar in it at all. It was so salty that it tasted like I had already made pickles with it. It was almost too salty to eat, except for small slivers.