I love beets. I’ve loved them ever since I was little. I was an odd duck, I know. While beets are available at other times of the year, they especially seem like a winter vegetable to me. This week’s produce is this ruby red gem. Ready to see why more of us should be eating our beets?
affiliate links below*
What Are Beets?
Beets are a root vegetable in the Chenopod family that is edible from the root to the leaves. I never heard of Chenopods, short for Chenopodiaceae, before, have you? I thought it was interesting that historically beets were used for their leaves, not the root. I grew up eating the root and didn’t even know the leaves were edible until a few years ago.
While red beets are the most common, you can also get varied hues like golden beets, white beets, and a pretty striped white and red beet.
I also learned that beets are nutritionally similar to celery, the greens are in the dark green vegetable category (super healthy), and they are considered a non-starchy vegetable. No bad rap for these beauties! You want to include them in your diet for 2 reasons besides the fact they are rich in antioxidants – those green leaves are a healthy serving of leafy green vegetables and 1 cup of cooked beets offers 34% of your daily folate, 28% manganese, 15% potassium, and 14% of both copper and fiber. Yes, your body needs these things!
How to Choose Beets
Choose small to medium-sized beetroots for optimal flavor. If you are eating the greens you want to look for fresh greens that aren’t wilted and tattered, much like you would check for when buying Swiss chard or lettuce. Also check the root to make sure there are no soft spots or bruises. You will find them in the produce cooler department, usually near other greens.
How to Use Beets
The strong unique flavor of beets can be a turn off to many people, but if you use different methods to prepare them you may just find they aren’t so bad after all. While I am a fan of beets prepared many ways, including Harvard and pickled beets, along with boiled beets with butter, my family prefers them roasted or mixed in with other vegetables in small quantities.
Beets tend to overwhelm a whole dish so if I include them in soup I usually only use 1/2 a beet to add a different flavor profile – change it up. As I said above, my family enjoys them roasted with other vegetables. Once they are roasted they have a very different flavor and my family didn’t even realize they were eating them!
I also like to cut them into thin straws or spiralize them then marinate them in a fruit infused balsamic vinegar to top salads. One of my favorite combos is golden beets with fig balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt, and dash of black pepper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
If you enjoy juicing, beets are a wonderful addition to your morning juice and add a beautiful color. You might even want to try a beet juice cocktail like the recipe I have coming later this week.
How to Prepare Beets
- Wash the beets well. No one wants to eat a little dirt with their beet. (Note: You may want to wear gloves to keep from staining your hands red.)
- Trim off the leaves and stems.
- Cut the beets in quarters or cube to whatever size you would like them.
Cooking Preparations for Beets
You can eat beets raw or cook them. Since they are quite hard you will want to eat them raw in limited quantities, such as spiralized dishes, salad, or fresh juice. The most common preparation methods of cooking beets are boiling or steaming but I’ll let you in on a secret – the very tastiest way to enjoy them is roasted and it’s such an easy way to prep them.
The best way to enjoy beets and most cooked vegetables with the most nutrients preserved is, of course, by steaming them. You can cut them in smaller pieces and steam for approximately 15 minutes or until they are “fork soft”.
How to Preserve Beets
My mom canned beets and she used to make the best Harvard beets. Don’t ask me where she got her recipe. I’m not sure. It may have been the Mennonite Community Cookbook. It was my favorite. In fact, I still have her tattered old copy. I’ll have to look through it to see.
Freezing Beets
By now you’re used to me saying “blanch vegetable” before freezing if you’ve been following this produce tips series. Not today. Today we’re going to cook the beets whole until they are just soft.
- Bring large pot of water to a boil.
- While water is coming to a boil, remove leaves and most of stem from beets.
- Wash under cold or lukewarm water, getting all dirt off.
- Put similar sized beets into the boiling water and make sure they are covered with water.
- Boil until fork soft, approximately 25-30 minutes.
- Immediately remove them and place in an ice bath (now this looks familiar, right?).
- Remove the peels – at this point they should peel right off with your hands. Remember to wear gloves if you don’t want red hands.
- Cube or slice beets as desired after they have cooled.
- Freeze in desired amounts.
TIP 1: If you are freezing a large quantity of beets you will save time if you get several pots of beets cooking at the same time.
Tip 2: Flash Freezing: If you want your beets frozen in separate pieces, spread them out on a cookie sheet that’s been covered in parchment, waxed, or freezer paper. Put in freezer for 1 hour then package as you wish for freezing.
TIP 3: I use my salad spinner to get excess water off my produce after blanching and before freezing.
How to Can Beets
Beets are a low acid food so they aren’t safe to water bath can unless you are making pickled recipes. I don’t play with canning recipes too much since I’m not an expert at pH balances and don’t want to risk killing anyone but I have several go-to resources any time I can – Fresh Preserving and Food in Jars.
I have a pressure canner but it needs a few pieces replaced (it’s the canner we used when I was a kid) so I only use recipes that can be water bath canned. I’m going to replace the pieces over the winter so I can pressure can more vegetables and soups next year. See everything I use to water bath can and steps that show just how easy it is.
Beet Recipes
Beet and Goat’s Cheese Kale Salad
Coming this week…
Beet Ginger Tangerine Cocktail {Adult}
Roasted Root Veggies {Family Friendly}
* Real: The Kitchen and Beyond is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
One Comment