Beets! Pickle, Can, Roast, Make into Borscht
Beets are one of the most nutritious vegetables you can grow. They are also versatile, sweet, and an excellent spring or fall cool weather crop. Now is the time to start thinking about planting beets for the fall.
Swiss chard (a plant that we highlighted earlier this year) is a relative of the beet. However, you eat the leaves of Swiss chard, and the roots of the beet. Baby beet greens are tasty in salads. Because beets have a spotty germination rate, it is a good idea to sow beets thickly. That leaves lots of tender, young, beet greens for salads after you thin the beet rows.
Planting Beets
Beets will grow large roots during cooler weather. You may sow them from mid-August to mid-September in most regions. That way, the plant can germinate and begin growing before the weather is too cool, but it will still be cool enough for the plants to grow large roots. Beets need rich, well-drained soil, and full sun to mature. Because they are a root crop, beets grow best when directly sown into the ground. Keep the seeds moist, and the viable seeds will germinate after just about a week.
Harvesting Beets
You can eat beets at any point during their life cycle. The young leaves are tasty in salads, while the roots are good pickled, roasted, or made into soup. When harvesting roots, leave the tops on until you are ready to cook the beets. They are truly “bleeders,” and cutting the tops off before cooking will cause the beets to lose a lot of moisture.
Cooking Beets
Beets are good pickled, canned, roasted or in traditional borscht. To roast beets, cut the leaves off, leaving about one inch of stems on top of the beet. Scrub the beets under the water. Roast in an oven set to 400 degrees until the beets are fork-tender. They can be eaten right away or cut up and stored in the refrigerator for a week.
To make borscht, peel and cut up about eight large beets. Place in water to cover with one chopped onion. Boil until tender, then puree the mixture in the blender. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Serve cold or hot with sour cream or yogurt stirred in. Tasty and healthy!
July 26th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Borscht is a soup that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries, and now spread all over the world. Jew emigrate from Russian and its surrounding countries is the original spreader of Borscht. And today, because of its riching in nutrition and lower calories, it is beloved by people all over the world, and also is a perfect dish for people that are on diet.
As follow is the simple Recipe of Borscht:
Ingredients
8 cups beef broth*
1 pound slice of meaty bone-in beef shank
1 large onion, peeled, quartered
4 large beets, peeled, chopped
4 carrots, peeled, chopped
1 large russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
3/4 cup chopped fresh dill
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 cup sour cream
Finally, Salt and pepper to taste
July 27th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Mmmm, thanks, I’ll try this recipe! I especially love the fact that it has dill in it (my favorite herb – I’ll have to write about it in the near future).