beets ready to roast

Today's fresh beets, ready to cook my favorite way! Two deep red Merlin's and one pink Chiogga.

I love to roast them in foil. It's so simple and it keeps in all the flavor. Just clean and trim the beets, wrap them in foil and roast at about 400 F til tender, about 45 minutes depending on size of the beets. The skin peels off easy after roasting and they're ready to eat.

With these beets I made a beet salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, a nice vinaigrette, and baby green lettuce. I used this recipe: Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, from AllRecipes.

beets in the evening sun

Seeds planted in the garden while there was still snow - March 25.

2012 crop review

Beets. I grew a lot of different varieties this year. Bulls Blood, Detroit Red and White, Chiogga, Lutz, Cylindra, Early Wonder, Red Ace, Round Red Merlin, Blankoma. I like them all! But it was not a great year for my beets. I just never had enough of them. I planted a great crop for my parents. In March, I direct seeded a good thick row of Detroit Red in their garden. They came up well and produced all season and my parents were really happy with them. They gave me several bunches. Next year - MORE beets in my garden!

Broccoli. Super crop, again. I have have several really good years of broccoli. I grew "Diplomat" this year. Very nice. I plant it early under lights and it gives a nice big head and them side shoots til October. My fall crop was not worth the effort, especially since the spring one was still producing and I love the small side shoots. I had a 4 x 4 foot patch with 12 plants.

Bok Choi. I am almost jumping up and down about finding two SUPER varieties of bok choy this year! I love bok choy stir fried with garlic and ginger and in a nice sauce, in fried rice, or grilled outside with a peanut marinade. Win-Win Choi is a big plant with lovely white stems and deep green leaves. Mei Qing Choi is a "baby choi" that doesn't bolt even if its gets big - super for grilling. Yummy, yummy, yummy .....

Cabbage. Another super crop. I grew Savoy (Alcosa), Napa, and Red (Super Red 80). These worked well both as spring and fall crops. I love these three varieties for cole slaw and salads. Also braised along side a roast. I don't eat that much cabbage, but a few heads are really nice to have as they are one of the prettiest plants in the garden.

chiogga beets

It seems that ]my Chiogga beets are different every year.

Three years ago (first year I grew them) they were very red and I could just barely see the striping and they tasted fantastic. Then the next year, they were tough and woody and pale. Now this year, they are striped like candy canes! And they taste great. They must be sensitive to the weather and/or my soil.

harvests: basil, onions and beets

vegetables for vacation

I made a couple of really nice vegetable dishes on vacation for a big family gathering. Above are some pretty beets. A mix of all three varieties I am growing: Chiogga, Lutz and White Detroit. I also made a big dish of fava beans (podded, sauteed, and mixed with sauteed corn and carrots) and a couple big dishes of summer squash (saute sliced Vidalia onions, then add sliced squash and saute til done).

beets are sizing up

I planted them close this year in clumps of 2-4 and they are pushing apart now. These are White Detroit.

beet plants

I left my beets in clumps of 3 or 4 plants this year as I heard that they grow nicely like this. The beets push apart as they grow.

white Detroit beets with carrots

I wasn't real sure of these when I ordered the seed last year. White Detroit beets. But the description at Sand Hill Preservation Center sounded interesting:

White Detroit: 65 days. Relatively new introduction where the beets are white, less bleeding and staining but same earthy flavor.

And the good news is my teenager liked them! And they didn't stain the carrots. Or my hands. They were very tasty. I think this will be a variety to grow again next year.

My dad has questioned the nutritiousness of white vegetables. I wonder if the white beets are low in vitamins? Same with white carrots? I don't know about this. But here's the nutritional value of white beets: "Beets are saturated-fat-free, cholesterol-free, provide a small amount of vitamin C, a source of fiber and low in sodium and fat. Beets contain a high amount of folate which is believed to help prevent depression and fatigue." From here.

(The carrots are Oxheart - so fat and round they look like orange beets! I grow this variety every year.)

My quick plain recipe: Peel and cube carrots and beets. Boil until tender. Transfer to bowl and top with salt, butter and parsley. Bake/warm at about 300*F for a while.

beets and squash for dinner

I started with the first recipe contributed on my beet post: borscht. Never having made borscht before, I was surprised by the combination beets, celery, garlic, carrots and dill. I even found a last sprig of dill in the garden. It was easy to make. And tasted great.

While I was cooking, I made my favorite squash recipe from the first garden Butternut I've used this season.

Carys' Boscht Recipe:
"I make borscht with cubed beets, carrots, sliced celery, garlic, lots of dill (seed and weed), salt, pepper. You can add cabbage if you like, but I don't. Simmer just until everything is tender. Don't overcook, because it makes the colour less pretty and the flavour less vivid. Serve hot or cold. You can add a spoonful of sourcream or yogurt if desired, and a snip of fresh dill." (Thanks Carys!)

My Squash Recipe:
Peel and cube half a Butternut squash. Bake squash and a sweet potato at 400*F til tender (about 40 min for squash, 20 min for sweet potato). Peel sweet potato. Puree baked sweet potato and squash together with butter and salt.


© Skippy's Vegetable Garden

please tell me your beet recipes

I have 12 pounds of beets to eat! Do you have any great recipes? Please add them or a link below.

I usually bake beets in foil at 400*F for 40 min or so - until they're tender. Then cool, peel and slice. The other day I mixed them with other roasted winter root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, celeriac, fennel and parsnips) with lots of fresh thyme and sage. They were delicious. I made a lot for leftovers, which I chopped fine and fried well the next day to make hash. That was even more yummy.

I'd like to try making pickled beets, but have never done this.

this week's harvests

I pulled a bunch of beets this week: Chiogga, Lutz and White Detroit. Also carrots: Oxheart, Mokum and Bolero (a lot of funky shapes!).

And my onions grown from sets: variety is Stuttgarter. Onions will stay in the garden 3 or 4 days to dry for storage. Its a good time with several days of dry weather ahead.

grilled beets

The bottom line is - fantastic!

My husband invented this one. My Lutz beets, his grilling. It was an experiment.

I've looked on-line for grilled beet recipes. They suggest grilling whole in foil, or par boiling, or marinating slices 30 min then grilling. We like to do quick food prep: very fresh vegetables - very quick grilling.

My husband make really nice grilled potatoes, carrots, fennel, onions, squash, etc. He slices about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, brushes with olive oil and adds herbs and/or spices while cooking. Why not beets, we said.

RECIPE: slice fresh beets 1/4 inch thick, place on hot grill, brush with olive oil, cook until done (10-15 minutes), then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

We served these with grilled patty pan squash, onions, fava beans, and beef. A bit of fresh Thai basil on the squash and beef during grilling. All served over a bed of linguine pasta with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers on the side. I can recommend it!

Beet storage: I have a big crop of Lutz, Chiogga and White Detroit beets ready in the garden now. Beets need to be stored in cool, humid conditions. They'll last 3-4 months at the right conditions, like the bottom drawer of the fridge. The basement is too warm and dry. Since I don't have a root cellar, we're thinking of getting a small refrigerator to store these. My summer crop needs to be harvested soon and I have a small fall crop growing. We'll see.

root cellar

How to store the root harvest?

I am researching root cellars since I lost a whole bagful of big garden beets. There were too many to fit in my refrigerator and I thought these would keep in my basement - but I was wrong :(

Root crops I grow (or would like to) include beets, potatoes, carrots and parsnips. My two bags of potatoes (so far) are keeping fine in my basement. My carrot harvest did fine in the fridge. I only had two gallon bags of these and there are only a few left now. The parsnips never sprouted :( and I'll try again next year.

I will look up the optimum storage temp for these crops and if there is an inexpensive solution for storage. Please let me know if you have information on this topic!

potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)

today's harvest

Red Summer Crisp (Batavian) lettuce, Easter Egg multicolor radish, Chiogga beets and Cherokee Purple tomatoes.

harvests from my vegetable gardens

harvest - beets, broccoli and beans

Yesterday I picked a great big head of broccoli, three nice Chiogga beets and a handful of long green beans. Also a couple tomatoes and some basil. These vegetables were delicious for dinner along with some of my potatoes.

I parboiled the potatoes 5 minutes and cooked the beets in foil in the oven for 30 minutes, then peeled and sliced them. Then everything got roasted on the grill outside. Broccoli cooks great on the grill, even beet greens are really nice grilled. All you need is a grill pan with small enough holes. It also helps to have spouse who can grill to perfection.
harvests from my vegetable gardens

harvest of big beets

I just love great big, dark red beets. I pulled lots of them this weekend. The big dark ones are a variety called Lutz. They are recommended as good winter keepers. I expect they will sweeten as they keep. I'll save these in my basement in a paper bag along with my potatoes. I have planted a fall crop of these that I hope will grow in time before the frosts come. Even if they don't, I have plenty of beets!

The lighter colored beets at the right of the tray are Chiogga's. These are very sweet now and we are eating them as fast as we can. Sweet and pale reddish with very tender leaves.

beets (Beta vulgaris)
harvests from my vegetable gardens

harvest

Here's yesterday's harvest. Skippy and I went out to our community plot with a big empty bag and came home with it full!

At the very far left is a little bit of spring broccoli that is still producing florets. Then come some tricolored radish that I just started pulling. They are very pretty and perfectly spherical. The cukes, a pickling variety and a slicing variety called Rocky, and are coming in fast now, though they are still small. I try to pick the summer squash small before it gets out of hand. This harvest has two patty pan (Starship and Sunburst). They are nice and sweet. I'm starting to pull lots of carrots now (I had a bunch more that I didn't wash for this picture). This variety is Mokum, my early carrots. My two other varieties are still growing. There are two varieties of beets here: Lutz (dark purple) and Chiogga (pale reddish). I cooked them tonight with their greens and the Chiogga are especially tender and sweet. At the far right are onions that are starting to bulb nicely. And last of all, a nice bunch of basil.

Its actually been several months now since I've been in a grocery store. That's one of my favorite parts of growing a vegetable garden. I buy meat at the local farmer's market or fish monger, and our milkman (Crescent Ridge Dairy) delivers dairy products. We make an occasional trip to Cost Co and that's all. We just eat lots of fresh summer vegetables.

I haven't photographed my lettuce in a while, but I've been supplying our salad bowl since May 31 without any purchased lettuce. My challenge is to make it through the summer heat. Last year I couldn't do this and had to buy it mid summer. Right now all of my spring sowings of lettuce have bolted and this week we'll eat the last of it. I'm hoping my Summer Crisp Batavian lettuce will be ready to harvest next week. This is a heat resistant crop recommended by Gretta, my local CSA farmer.

Daucus carota beets (Beta vulgaris)

little beets

While I'm on the theme of winter root vegetables - these are beets I pulled from my garden on Sunday. They are a lot smaller than they appear here. I'm sure they will be tasty, but next year I hope to be able to grow good sized beets. I think beets may be a crop that needs more sun than I have in my home garden, so I'll plan to grow them in my new plot next year.
beets (Beta vulgaris)

winter root veggies

On of my favorite vegetable combinations for this time of year. Its a mix of carrots, parsnips and beets. I wrap the beets in foil and bake at 375 for an hour, then peel and slice the next day. Boil sliced carrots 8 minutes, adding sliced parsnips for the last 5 minutes. Then mix everything in a baking dish with herbs and olive oil and bake for a bit. Good additions are potatoes, celeriac and onions. I have a rutabaga in the fridge I will try soon too. I also like to turn it into eggs and hash for breakfast. Yumm!!!

beets (Beta vulgaris)
potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)