Hate ’em or Love ’em- Beets?
In food conversations, some dishes get normally unanimous approval and applause. Ice cream, cookies, chocolate, pork belly, brisket and rib eye steak normally spike up excitement in food talk. Sweets and quality meats always seem to be at the top of the list. But there are those select ingredients that can quickly divide the room in half and cause a few brows to frown. Beets are a good example.
We’re big fans of growing beets and eating beets from top to bottom. From fresh beet salad greens to roasted beet roots, these colorful tubers keep us busy and satisfied. Unfortunately, there’s another half of the population that can’t bear the taste or texture of beets. “Tastes like dirt!”
A friend of ours stays away from any root that makes him “pee red”. Freaked out the first time he ate beets as an adult. Thought he had internal hemorrhaging. The “unusual” color isn’t an argument we’ll contest with. Although, there are white beets to resolve this issue.
Another friend shrieks from the word “beets” because it brings back horrible memories of her grandmother forcing them to eat beets out of the can.
And then there’s a more daring group of pals that adore beets, in any shape or form. These are the peeps we talk and feed liberally when it comes to beets.
So our population of food friends seems to be pretty much split in half. There are the haters and the lovers and rarely does anyone ever sit on the fence when it comes to beets. You either will eat it, or pass it to Mikey.
What’s your take on beets? Are you a hater or lover?
Beet Lovers,
Diane and Todd
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love beets! always and forever.
love ’em 🙂
LOVE! Fresh, yes, but home-pickled is my favorite (unfortunately not pickled in my home, but someone else’s). Sweet and tangy. MMmmmmm.
I love beets. The beets I just planted need to grow faster. I love the candy striped beets. They may be the prettiest root vegetable I have ever seen.
I am a beet eater who WANTS to be a beet lover. I will not go to the dark side of hating, but do confess they taste earthy in such a dense way that I try to eat them without letting them touch my toungue (shhhh). I LOVE them visually. I want to wear them. I’m really trying hard to move past my ‘issue’. I actually out of desparation, and a full root cellar full of orpahned beets not veering toward a culinary end point any time soon, did a call out on my blog last fall for help. I did get a beet gnocchi recipe that was good. But a bit in the family of loving cauliflower smothered in cheese sauce. Your beautiful photographs have reinvigorated my conviction. I will embrace my vast current collection of winter-stored beets and honor them as they deserve….maybe swilling a cocktail on the side just to take the edge off for me.
Love them! Cooked, raw, pickled, hot, cold. Yummmmmy!
I think people think they hate beets because they’ve only ever had pickled beets out of a can. I love them roasted or turned into beet chips (recipe on my site!) – and when I have beet “haters” try them this way, they are converts!
LOVER! But if you’re a Hater don’t discard the beet greens. Well rinsed and cooked they’re high in folic acid, an essential B vitamin.
I once made a Divine Devil’s Food Cake that had a “secret ingredient”…BEETS! They give the cake a deeper color, depth of flavor, and moistness, plus the beet sugars in beets help too – SWEET!
Love em top to bottom too!!Beet greens are so good. Just had a beet salad with blood oranges for lunch at Mediterranean Village Rim in San Clemente-try this little place–incredible!
Love the pictures of them HATE to eat them!
It took my until mid-life to discover the joys of beets – golden are my absolute favorite!
We LOVE them! We had tomato,chives & beet leaves frittata for lunch today ! Delizioso ! & so pretty that I took a photo of it!
I luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurb me some beets! 🙂
Love them. All of them, any color. My husband used to hate them until he tried “candy stripe” beets. Now he is a convert and will happily eat gold, striped, white, yellow, in fact any color except red. The red remains to “earthy” flavored for him.
Just found this on “growing up Italian” The Rubies are the beets. Worth trying?
Recipe from a Guest, Mary Ann Coletti
Posted October 24, 2010 by Edward Iannuccilli
Categories: Food, Recipe
Tags: Recipe, Spaghetti
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. Simple and very satisfying. It comes out of Michele Scicolone’s book “A Fresh Taste of Italy”
Spaghetti with Rubies
(Spagheti con Rubini)
2 bunches of beets (8 medium beets, about 2 pounds)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Pinch of crushed red pepper, or to taste
Coars salt to taste
1 pound thin spaghetti or linguine (I have also used bucatini)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F
2 Trim the tops and stems off the beets.(if tops are fresh blanch, chop and add to skillet with beets) Wash the beets under cool running water and scrub them with a brush. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes, or until tender. (pierce with a knife) Let cool, then peel and coarsely chop the beets (dice)
3. In a skillet large enough to hold all of the pasta, combine the olive oil garlic and red pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 30 seconds, or until the garlic is fragrant and the oil is sizzling. add the diced beets (and greens if using) and turn them in the oil mixture until heated through.
4. Bring a large pot of cold water to a boil. Add salt and the spaghetti. Cook until the spaghetti is almoxt al dente, tender yet firm to the bite. Drain the spaghetti, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water
5. Pour the spaghetti into the skillet with the beets. Add some of the cooking water. Simmer over medium heat, constantly turning the spaghetti with the beets, until the pasta is evenly colored about 2 minutes.
6. Serve immediately.
In the summer I always have fresh mint available. Chop a handful and add to the finished pasta. The subtle flavor of mint adds anothe layer of flavor to the dish. Enjoy!
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Love pickled beets with blue cheese.YUM. Have you got any tips on growing them? I tried last year and didn’t have any luck. Thanks.
We just plop the seeds down in our wine barrel or raised planters. They seem to like our weather and the soil. And the drip irrigation. We can’t grow ours straight into our “natural soil” here. Too hard and too much clay no matter how much we try to amend it. The pots and planters seem to be our best choice. Good luck.