Earlier this month my husband harvested the red beets from our garden. We had a great crop of beets this year and they were plump and plentiful. Our best crop ever! Once harvested fresh beets need to be properly cleaned and prepared for cooking. I know everyone kind of does this step differently, but this is how I like to clean and prepare our fresh red beets.
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Cut the leafy tops off just leaving about 2″ of the top left. Rinse the entire beet under cool running water to remove dirt and debris. I use a vegetable scrub brush (gently) to help losen up the stubborn spots and rinse until clean. Continue this process until all have been cleaned. I like to place them in a colander so the water can drain away while I continue working on the rest.
You need to “Tap the Roots” which is basically just trimming them down. I like to do this on my cutting board to keep things nice and clean. Use a knife to trim the root down to about 1 1/2″ in length. It’s also a good time to inspect it again to make sure all of the dirt is off and no bad spots.
Fill a large pan with hot water. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat. Carefully place them in the boiling water and boil for 15-25 minutes. The time will vary depending on the size of beet. You want to boil them long enough to losen the skins. Once you see the skins wrinkling and starting to peel off, it’s time to remove them from the water. I place them immediately into a colander with cold running water running over them to stop the cooking process and to help them cool down.
Once they’re cool to the touch you want to peel off the skins. Again, do this under a stream of water as the skins come off in small pieces, this way you can rinse them away as you work to remove them. The process goes along fairly quickly. After you have the skins off, you’ll want to trim off the tops and the roots with a knife. Rinse again.
We like our’s either sliced or diced. Now is the time to do that. Once you have them prepared you can boil them in clean water, fry them, roast them or however it is you want to cook and prepare them. Fresh beets taste 100% better than their canned counterparts sitting on grocery store shelves.
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I have never grown beets. I do like to buy them at the supermarket. but I am sure that fresh out of your garden they taste so much better.
I’ve never tried to grow beets. I like pickled beets.
I am a fan of fresh beets. I often make a salad of sliced beets with green onion and blue cheese. Delicious.
I have never ate beets. I never realized they were so much work to fix them.