Garden Fresh Beets – Give them a Try!

Click here to learn how to select, store, and use garden fresh beets.  

Each week Amy Wenninghoff with Wenninghoff’s Farmer’s Market and CSA provides great tips and recipes on how to use fresh produce that is in season.  This is a portion of her last “newsletter.”  It provides great ways to prepare and enjoy garden fresh beets.

I always hear people say they don’t like beets.  When I ask if they have ever had a fresh beet, they usually say, “No….I’ve only had them from a can.”   Fresh beets do not taste anything like canned beets.  Before you automatically say you dislike them, give them a try.

As with any root crop, beets can be roasted.  Wash the beet (you can also peel it if you want) and slice 1/8th inch thick.  Toss with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet in 425 degree F oven for about 10 minutes.  Flip and roast another 10 minutes or until tender.  Any leftovers taste incredibly delicious the next day cold, after being refrigerated.

You can also cook them like a potato. Chop them up and cook with a roast or wrap in tin foil (with butter and onions) and put them on the grill.  Or wrap in tin foil and bake like a potato in the oven.  You can even peel the beet and shred it like hash browns.  Then use it in stir fry with onions or leeks.

Boiling Beets:  It is very important to leave the skins and the top stem on when boiling beets.  If you pierce the skin of the beet, it will “bleed” as it is boiled and the red color will wash out.  Boil as long as you would a potato of the same size.  Poke with a fork to check for tenderness.  When done, place beet in the sink with cold water and your skin will slide off.  Cut the top off.    Boiled beets can then be used to make pickled beets, or you can mash or slice them and add butter, salt and pepper.

Warning:  Don’t freak out and call the doctor the next day after you use the restroom.  It will look like blood. It’s not.  But it can be a great practical joke to play on someone!

Here is another great recipe using fresh beets from Georgia Jones, UNL Extension Specialist, Beat, Walnut & Goat Cheese Salad.