RED as a beet

Easy-to-grow vegetable deserves more respect



March 06, 2020

All about beets

• Common name - Beet, beetroot
• Plant type – Annual vegetable
• Mature size – 1 to 1½ inches
• Sun – Full sun or part shade
• Soil type – Sandy loam
• Hardiness – Zones 2-11

Cooking with beets in various locales

• Pickled-beet eggs – traditional dish of Pennsylvania Dutch, U.S.
• Hard-boiled eggs are refrigerated in liquid left over from pickling beets and allowed to marinate until eggs turn a deep, pink-red color
• Borscht soup – beetroots are used in Eastern European and Northern Asian cooking for making a sour soup that is predominantly red in color
• Cwikla - beets with horseradish – combined to use with cold cuts and sandwiches in Poland and Ukraine
• Burger with beet slice – proper Aussie burger includes a beet slice in Australia



Beets are an easy-to-grow vegetable in our climate. They are attractive in the garden as well as a good source of vitamins and minerals. Beets can be prepared in a variety of ways for an assortment of uses. However, they are not served much on our current American menus.

History

Beets grew wild in the sandy soil of the Mediterranean. They were domesticated in the Middle East mainly for their greens and were grown by the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks. During the Middle Ages, the root became an important food source so selective propagation developed a plant with a larger root.

Growing beets

There are many cultivars of beets available in seed catalogs and even in local garden centers. In our climate, the beet is a cool-weather vegetable. Beets can withstand a frost and even a light freeze. The tops will freeze back from a hard freeze, but new leaves will come out after it warms up.

To prepare the soil, turn under a lot of organic compost. Beets do best in a sandy loam soil with a slightly acidic pH. Supplement the soil with any good commercial fertilizer if the garden soil test identifies lacking nutrients.

Prepare the rows from 12-18 inches apart. Seeds are very small dried fruit and each cluster contains three to four little seeds that can be slow to sprout because of their tough outer shell. Soaking the seed clusters overnight will help soften the shell and speed germination. Keep the surface evenly moist to promote sprouting.

After sprouting, the little seedlings must be thinned to leave a plant every 3 to 4 inches to avoid overcrowding and misshaped roots. Use the thinned leaves in a salad. After thinning, the beet plant benefits from a thin layer of small-particle mulch to protect the bulb from exposure.

Beets average seven weeks from sowing to first harvest. Harvest season can be prolonged by planting seeds at successive two week intervals. Keep in mind that beets do not do well after daytime temperatures are 75 degrees, so plan accordingly.

Harvest the beets when they are 1½ to 2 inches in diameter. Larger beets are tougher and more fibrous. Harvest by tugging or digging. Be sure to leave at least 1 inch of stem on the bulb to keep beets from bleeding during cooking.

Growing in containers

Because of the compact growth habit, beets can be grown successfully in containers that should be at least 8 to 12 inches deep, filled with soil high in nutritional content and have really good drainage. Keep the pot well-watered. Make sure the container gets full sun. Planting in a large tub with other vegetables and flowers makes an attractive and functional display. Cool-weather flowers could include pansies, snapdragons and calendulas.

Food uses

The beetroots are eaten raw, boiled, roasted or even juiced. The beet can be used in salads either raw or cooked to add color and nutrition. Often, they are cooked and pickled and then eaten cold as a condiment.

Pickled beets are a traditional food in many countries as it was a way of preserving a vegetable through the winter when other vegetables were not available.

The leaves of the young beet plant can be added to raw salads, while the mature leaves are sautéed, or steamed with bacon, onion, spices – much like spinach or kale.

Is it true that beets taste like dirt? Depending on your perspective, all root vegetables take on some flavor from the soil in which they are grown. But is it not the soil that gives beets their earthy flavor; it is geosmin, which is an organic compound produced by microbes in the soil that gives off a smell like freshly plowed earth or a field after a rain shower.

Nutrition

Raw beetroot is 88% water, 10% carbohydrates, 2% protein and less than 1% fat. Beets are high in fiber and rich in vitamins A and C. Beets have more iron than any other vegetable including spinach.

Other uses of beets

Beets have uses as a food coloring. Betanin obtained in the roots is used as a red food coloring, to improve the color and flavor of tomato paste sauces, desserts, jams and jellies, ice cream, candy and cereals. Beet juice was even used to color wine.

Deserve respect

Beets are much maligned on the internet – and by husbands and children. They are an easy-to-grow vegetable that deserves more respect. It has a long history of being a source of vitamins and minerals in the diet. It can be served so many ways either cooked or raw.

So offer a strawberry dessert colored with beet juice to all who eat beets.

The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com, or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.