Beets - Versatile, Healthy, and Tasty

Beets are a marvelous root vegetable. They can be eaten raw, boiled, or roasted. They also can be juiced, pickled, or used as the base for soup, aka borscht.

They are a good source of fiber, vitamins B9 (folate) and C, and manganese, potassium and iron and have long been associated with health benefits such as lower blood pressure and increased energy.

For boiled beets, once pulled from the garden, you can trim off the long thin part of the tap root and any fine hairs and cut the leaves, known as beet greens, off right where the stems meet the top of the bulb. Set the leaves aside for later use. Then rinse the bulbs and put them in a pot with just enough water to cover all the bulbs and boil until a fork can easily puncture into the bulb. Then pour off the juice into a container and chill it to save as a refreshing drink for later or use it to dye paper crafts or hard-boiled eggs.

While the skins of boiled beets are completely edible, they are easily removed. Once the bulbs are cool enough to handle you can slip off the skins to get a nice glossy result. The beets can then be eaten while hot or at room temperature or after chilled. They can be served as a simple whole food or sliced or diced and added to salads.

We recommend trimming the stems from the leaves as these can be a bit tough. Then rinse the leaves and parboil them in batches in hot water for two minutes. Then pat them dry with paper towel and cut them into bite size squares or strips. Then saute them in a pan with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/beetroot#vitamins-and-minerals

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beet_greens/