Beet tops or greens are an excellent source of vitamin A and the roots are a good source of vitamin C. The leaves and stems of young plants are steamed briefly and eaten as a vegetable; older leaves and stems are stir-fried and have a flavor resembling taro leaves.
The usually deep-red roots of garden beet are eaten boiled either as a cooked vegetable, or cold as a salad after cooking and adding oil and vinegar. A large proportion of the commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilised beets or into pickles. In Eastern Europe beet soup, such as cold borscht, is a popular dish. Yellow-coloured garden beets are grown on a very small scale for home consumption.
Beetroot can be peeled, steamed, and then eaten warm with butter as a delicacy; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as a condiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Pickled beets are a traditional food of the American South. It is also common in Australia and New Zealand for pickled beetroot to be served on a hamburger.Yellow beets are best when steamed.
One increasingly popular preparation involves tossing peeled and diced beets with a small amount of oil and seasoning, then roasting in the oven until tender.
A traditional Pennyslvania German (US) dish is Red Beet Eggs. Hard-boiled eggs are refrigerated in the cooking liquid of pickled beets and allowed to marinate until the eggs turn a deep pink-red color.
Beets larger than about 3" are often very tough. Beets store well if kept near freezing (but not below) and with high humidity.
Beets
The beet (Beta vulgaris) is a plant in the beet root family. It is best known for its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is probably the red root vegetable known as the garden beet. However, other cultivated varieties include the leaf vegetables chard and spinach beet, as well as the root vegetables sugar beet, which is important in the production of table sugar, and mangelwurzel, which is a fodder crop.
Nutrition and Preparation
Notes and Observations
For '09 we're planting more beets than we did last year and have selected an heirloom variety from Seeds of Change-- Shiraz Tall Top which has excellent greens and uniform deep red roots.
Beets are fairly frost hearty and can be planted a month or so before the last frost. Good moisture is required for germination.
Seeds should be planted 1/2" deep and small plants should be thinned to about 3" between plants. The greens from the thinned plants are tasty! Note that poor thinning is often a cause of poor beet development.
Beets like a steady supply of moisture and potassium in the soil.
Beets are fairly frost hearty and can be planted a month or so before the last frost. Good moisture is required for germination.
Seeds should be planted 1/2" deep and small plants should be thinned to about 3" between plants. The greens from the thinned plants are tasty! Note that poor thinning is often a cause of poor beet development.
Beets like a steady supply of moisture and potassium in the soil.