Beets are the Ideal Autumn Veg

by Trudy Goodstein

People unfamiliar with beets might find the lopsided ovoids very un-food-like. Smaller than a baseball and just as hard, they can appear more suited to throwing than eating. Yet beets are actually a wonderful vegetable with an earthy sweetness that is accentuated through cooking. Available between May and December, depending on when and where they are planted, they are a fantastic source of fiber, potassium, and iron. Their colors range from golden yellow to classic red to deep purple.

The beet root you see in markets is not the only edible part of the plant. You can also eat the greens raw, add them to soup, or sauté them. If the stems are older, they may be woody but they are still delicious. Just cut them smaller and cook them longer than the leaves.

Beet roots are most commonly boiled or roasted. Roasting them results in a slightly sweeter flavor and can be done with whole beets or cut chunks, requiring 35-75 minutes in the oven. Boiling them is quicker, ranging from 20 minutes for small beets to 40 minutes for larger ones. Beets are fully cooked when you can pierce them with a paring knife or fork and it slides in easily.

After cooking, cool the beets until they are safe to handle, at which point the skins will slide right off. Handle the cooked beets in a sink or other non-stainable surface because they have a penchant to stain most things including hands, clothing, and wooden surfaces. Beet stain will come off your hands, though it might take a few washes.

Cooked beets are delicious served as simple slices topped with salt, pepper, and a dollop of sour cream with a sprinkle of dill. You can add them to salads, roast them with other root vegetables, or make borscht, a beet soup that can be served cold or hot.

Sour cream and dill are common flavors when preparing beets, but you can try different flavor combinations with your favorite spice or herb for some fun experimentation. Beets are stable enough in flavor and texture that they can handle culinary creativity vis-a-vis spice combinations and cooking styles. Tasty, hearty, and healthy, great served hot or cold, beets are perfect for fall’s changeable weather. And if you want to save them for any time of year, try pickling them with the recipe that follows.

Pickled Beets
by Trudy Goodstein

Trudy Goodstein has worked at Pettit Teton for the last five years jamming and canning many things. Before relocating to Mendocino County, she worked in fine dining in San Francisco.

Yield: (10) 12 oz jars

INGREDIENTS

6.5 lbs beets, with their rootlets and 2 inches of their tops, well-scrubbed • 11⁄2 tsp whole cloves
(3) 4-inch cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces or crushed to fit spice bag • 1 1⁄2-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced (frozen ok)
3 3⁄4 cups sugar
3 cups red wine
4 1⁄2 cups red wine vinegar
1 1⁄2 Tbsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Put the beets into a large pot and pour enough water over them to cover them. Bring the water to a boil and boil the beets for 25 to 40 minutes, depending on their size, until they are just tender.

Drain the beets and cover them with cold water. When they are cool, trim them and slip off their skins, then cut them into thick chunks.

Tie the cloves, cinnamon, and ginger in a spice bag or scrap of cheesecloth. Put this into a nonreactive pot with the sugar, wine, vinegar, and salt. Bring the contents to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Simmer the syrup, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

While the syrup simmers, pack the beets into sterilized pint mason jars. Remove the spice bag from the pan and pour the hot syrup over the beets, leaving 1⁄2 inch headspace. Process the jars for 30 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Store jars in a cool, dry, dark place for at least 3 weeks before eating the beets. Store in the refrigerator after opening.

Photo p5 by Torrey Douglass
Photo p6 by Natalia Fogarty courtesy of Unsplash