Beet roots and greens can be eaten raw, steamed, braised, or stir-fried. Sauté beets for five minutes then steam for five more minutes; combine with onion, cabbage greens, carrots. Pair beets with fruit: combine sliced steamed beets with chopped apples, toasted walnuts and fresh greens. Add fresh cooked, pureed beets to chocolate cake batter for…
Beets
Beets Seed Starting Tips
Beets are a cool-season crop; they are best grown in spring and fall. Grow beets for their sweet roots or earthy-flavored greens. Beets are most flavorful and colorful when grown in cool soil. Beets can be directly sown in the garden 4 weeks before the last frost in spring. Beets sown in late summer can…
How to Harvest and Store Beets
Harvest beets when root tops are 1 to 1½ inches in diameter but not more than 3 inches in diameter. Beets that are allowed to get much bigger than 3 inches (7 cm) across often become tough and fibrous. When to Harvest Beets Beets mature 45 to 60 days after sowing. Beets are cool-season plants…
Beets and Chard Growing Problems: Troubleshooting
Beets grow best in cool weather. For best fresh eating, harvest beats when they are half grown–about six weeks after sowing. Beets will still be good eating when grown to full size. Thinning beets is important: thin first when roots begin to thicken–the tops will be young and tender and can be served fresh in…
How to Grow Beets
Beets are a cool-weather crop. Beets thrive in moderate temperatures from 50°F to 65°F (10-18°C). Sow beets in the garden 2 to 3 weeks before the last average frost date in spring. Continue succession plantings every 3 weeks until temperatures reach 80°F (26°C). Beets can again be planted in late summer or early autumn 6…
Planting Beets
Beets roots can be eaten raw or cooked and added to salads and soups. Beet greens and thinnings can be eaten raw in salads or cooked much like spinach. Planting Calendar. The temperature during the 55 to 90 days it takes to grow beets should remain below 65ºF (18ºC). • Spring crop. Sow beet seeds…
Baby Beets. Baby Carrots and Sugar Snap Peas Salad
Sweet and smooth baby beets–red, yellow, and orange–added to sugary sugar snap peas and sweet baby carrots tossed with a tangy orange zest dressing and you have a seasonal salad that says Spring! You’ll have to search to find someone who doesn’t like this salad. Baby beets, sugar snap peas, and baby carrots will hit…
Baby Beets: Steamed, Baked, Pickled
Baby beets are beets harvested just as they have started to round out. Leave these beets until they mature and you can call them table beets. Baby beets—just about the size of a ping-pong ball—have the most delicate taste and texture. Table beets—as big as your fist—still taste good, but don’t let them grow much…
How to Cook and Serve Beets
Beets have a sweet, earthy taste. They can be eaten raw or cooked. If you bake or roast beets in their skins, you can enjoy that flavor at its most intense. How to Choose Beets Select beets that are firm with smooth skins and are heavy for their size. Avoid beets that are soft, flabby,…
Raw Beet Salad
A great beet salad for summer: shred raw beets and toss with a vinaigrette and lots of chopped parsley. Flavor. The sweet flavor of a beet’s root is affected by the speed of the plant’s growth. Beets that are allowed to mature more slowly in cooler soil and weather will be sweeter than those that…
