Earthy, Tasty, and Lovely Beets!
Discover > Texas Home Cooking > Earthy, Tasty, and Lovely Beets!
If you've been to a Texas farmers market lately then you would have noticed a large variety of beets (how long do beets last?) from rich shades of reds, yellows, white, and even candy stripes! Beet plant is usually a cool-season crop so the beets you're going to see at your local markets were started last December and were transplanted last February.
Beets are one of the oldest known farmed vegetables! In fact, mankind has been eating beet greens even before written history. The bulb itself though is another story. It was only in the 1800s that the bulb was widely consumed when Frech chefs began to utilize them for their earthy and woody taste when roasted!
Here's a fun trivia: Did you know that the largest beet in the world said to be a whopping 156 pounds! Talk about a Texas-sized beet right?
Beets are Extremely Good for the Health
Before the French used beets bulbs for culinary uses, the bulbs were already being used for medicinal purposes. The betalain compound in beets (the culprit behind the red staining!) actually helps detoxify the body by binding with toxins and flushing them out of the body through the urinary tract.
Some people even say that sugar beet plant helps cleanse the liver, making it a very popular addition to smoothies for those who want to get rid of that hangover stat!
P.S. If you have garlic breath, munching on a raw beet or drinking some beet juice will clear that up in no time! The betalain compound will bind with the garlicky smell and will wash it down, leaving you with a fresher breath!
Just don't overdo it though since by volume, red beet plant has the highest sugar content of any vegetable.
How to Buy the Best Beets in Texas
If you're at a farmers market, you'll probably won't need this section, but just in case, here are some tips on how to pick the best golden beets of the bunch:
Avoid beets that have soft and moist spots, those have probably been mishandled or has started to rot from the inside.
Also avoid beets with shriveled and flabby skin.
Check the taproot (the part that extends from the bulbous part of the beet) should be slender. If not, then the beets will be extra woody and earthy (unless you like them that way)
If the leaves are still attached, small, crisp, and dark green leaves would be a good indicator that the beets were harvested at peak season and just recently.
And finally, pick equal-sized beets to ensure that they all have the same flavor profile and they all cook evenly.
Growing Beets in Texas
Golden beets grow best in cool temperature, in the spring and fall seasons and typically do not need much room to grow and can survive with only partial sunlight, making them perfect home garden plants. Due to Texas’ mild winters beets have the potential to grow constantly through the winter with the correct care. Such as ensuring the soil is well-drained and the temperature remains at least 40F.
Sowing beets in the fall/winter months is different from planting in the spring. It all down to the soil and how to control its temperature. Sandy soil will be able to absorb more warmth than heavy clay soil that can repress the growth of the beet. On land that consists mostly of poorly-drained, clay soil, you can build ridges in the dirt assuring decent water drainage and good airflow. They should be planted ½” in and 1-2” apart. You should see sprouts within 7-14 days.
Storing and Enjoying Beet Plant
If you love sugar beet plant, don't hesitate to stock up! As long as they're stored in the vegetable crisper drawer of your fridge and in a perforated plastic bag so they can breathe, beet bulbs can keep anywhere from one to three months! (Probably one of the reasons many restaurants stock beets as well as they have a very low spoilage rate).
So now that you have your red beet plant stock, there are a multitude of ways that you can enjoy beets. You can much on them raw, fermented, pickled, juiced, added to smoothies and more! Anything that you can do with a root vegetable, you can do with beets!
Beet juice is also a great to use a food coloring! Instead of adding artificial food colors for your next food project, try a few drops of beet juice! Not only do they give that deep red color, but it's healthy as well!
So yeah, what are you waiting for? Visit your local farmers market today and grab a bunch of golden beets while they're in full season! And if you're planning on stocking up, Chef Liam also has an amazing preservation/pickling guide that you can check out here.
