Beets are my least favorite. But I’m writing about beets anyway, so I can tell a somewhat embarrassing story about myself.
When I first crossed the Atlantic to attend school in London, the very first meal I had there included a mound of pickled beets. I dislike very few foods, but pickled beet is one of them.
What was a teenager to do at his first overseas meal? Like many children of parents who survived the Great Depression and World War, I was taught to eat everything on my plate, because “children were starving in Europe.”
While no longer starving in the 1960s, the Europe I first encountered was not yet fully recovered from the war. My suitcase was filled with nylon stockings I had to deliver to a friend of my grandparents.
I had no choice but to choke down the mountain of beets on my plate. In the ensuing decades, I have done my best to avoid beets.
Until now. With my commitment to all foods local, the time has come for me to consume fresh local organic beets.
One tasty way to handle high-quality fresh local organic beets is to consume them raw. Peel them, and cut them into matchsticks in the food processor.
Mix the local beets with local apples or turnips also cut into matchsticks, perhaps some local goat cheese from Artistry Farm, and sprinkle with olive oil and lemon.
To prevent red stain from handling the beets, wear gloves and place wax paper on the cutting board.
The French prefer steaming beets. Place whole washed but unpeeled beets in a steaming rack over boiled water, cover, reduce the heat to simmer, and simmer for one hour.
Beets can also be roasted. Place on foil along with some onions, seal the foil packet, and bake at 400 degrees for one hour or at 250 degrees for two hours.
Cool the cooked beets, peel, slice, and toss with olive oil and vinegar. Or if, unlike me, you like pickled beets, omit the olive oil.
Beets are thought to cleanse the liver, fight cancer, treat depression, and lower blood pressure. If they accomplish any of these, I guess they are worth eating, though I’ll still fore go the pickled version.
Beets, turnips, and other winter produce from Boulder Belt Eco-Farm have been available at MOON Co-op Grocery, Oxford's consumer-owned full-service grocery featuring natural, local, organic, sustainable, and Earth-friendly products. MOON Co-op, located at 512 S. Locust St. in Oxford, is open to the public every day. Visit the store online at www.mooncoop.coop.
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