4 minute read
Beautiful Beets
The Cornucopia Corner
Tips for Growing, Buying and Cooking Fresh, Locally Sourced Food for Your Table
Beautiful Beets! Text and Photo by Steffie Littlefield
Beetroots, commonly known as beets, are a popular root vegetable used in many cuisines around the world. Beets are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and plant compounds, some of which have medicinal properties. Some beets are grown as a green leafy vegetable. Beets are one of the easiest vegetables you can grow. They’re almost never troubled by pests or disease. They don’t need staking, pruning or fussing. In our clay and rocky soils it is best to grow root vegetables in raised beds. Beets should be planted from seed, directly into the garden. Each beet seed is actually a hard little cluster of 2 to 4 seeds. It takes several days or even a week for the outer seed coat to soften and allow the seeds inside to germinate. My process is to soak the seed over a night or two in water before I sow. It’s important to keep the soil consistently moist during this period. Then once the seeds have germinated, you will need
Steffie Littlefield is a St Louis area horticulturist and garden designer. She has degrees from St. Louis Community College at Meramec and Southeast Missouri State and is a member of Gateway Professional Horticultural Association, Missouri Botanical Garden Members Board and past president of the Horticulture Co-op of Metropolitan St. Louis. She is part-owner of Edg-Clif Winery, Potosi, MO. www.Edg-Clif.com.
to thin out (and eat!) some of the extra seedlings. Ideally you’ll wind up with about 9 plants per square foot. Like most vegetables, beets prefer growing in full sun and they like to get about 1” of water each week. Beets are cold tolerant, so they can be planted in early spring, several weeks before the last frost date or in fall where you can protect them from snow and ice for harvesting all winter. Another trick to keep the soil consistently moist during germination and to protect the plants from harse fall-winter weather, is to cover the area with row a cover until the seedlings break the soil surface and become sturdy plants. Beets can be harvested at any time. For baby beets, harvest when the root is no more than 1 or 2 inches in diameter. Cook the leaves for the savory greens as well as the roots — all parts of the plant are delicious. If you want the most food for the garden space, wait until the root has filled out to several inches in diameter. Depending on the variety, most beets will still be tender and flavorful, even when the root measures 4 or 5 inches. Beets, along with other root vegetables, have been used for centuries in food and drink recipes. Originally cultivated in Germany and Italy, beets have become important to European, Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines. From the Middle Ages, beetroot was used as a treatment for a variety of conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood. Packed with antioxidants, folic acid, potassium and fiber, they can provide many nutritional benefits, particularly when eaten regularly. These earthy vegetables are powerful liver cleansers and are currently being studied as a potential weapon in the fight against cancer. These amazing bulblike roots can be red, pink, striped red, gold or white. I love leaving some beets in the ground until Thanksgiving week and harvesting as a truly fresh-from-the-garden side dish!
COOKING BEETS
Boiled Beets. Startboiling waterin a large deep pot. Wash beets and cut off the root just to the bottom of the beet. Next add the beets to the pot and boil them for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of your beets. The larger the beets, the longer it will take to cook them. Remove the skin from the beets with your hands and slice or diceto your preferred sizes. Steamed Beets. While I am not a big fan of steaming beets, you can certainly do that as well. You would steam beets by slicing them first and then placing them in the steamer basket over boiling water. Steam for 15 to 20 minutes until tender. Roasting Beets. I usually set my oven to 375 degrees F. and drizzle my beet wedges with olive oil, salt, and pepper. After I spread beets on the cooking sheet, I roast them for 45 to 60 minutes or until fork tender. Pickling Beets. Boil then simmer your beets for 45 minutes on reduced heat. Drain and rinse in cold water, rub off skins, thinly slice beets or cube them and pack into pint jars. Boil vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and stir in salt, YOUR TREES DESERVE THE BEST CARE peppercorns and bay leaves and pour over beets cover and chill. Once you cook and peel your beets, you can add them to fresh salads or warm them up with butter as a side dish. Sprinkle them with sea salt and drizzle with olive oil and you can eat them as a snack! You will never go back to canned beets ever again!
Tim Gamma – B.S. Horticulture Board Certi ed Master Arborist Tom Gamma ISA Certi ed Arborist
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