We grew a couple of new varieties of beets this year. I’m not a huge beet fan, but other members of the family really like them. To me, they pretty much have always tasted like dirt. That is, until last year, when I took my mom’s advice and froze them instead of bottling them. That made a huge difference in the flavor for me. Still not my favorite, but definitely more appetizing. So this year we grew two new heirloom varieties of beets, the Chioggia Beet and the Golden Beet.
The Chioggia Beet is candy striped inside–like a target if you cut it open horizontally. Here’s a picture courtesy of southernexposure.com which is not where I got my seeds, but they do have them for sale there.
They actually did look like that inside. Very impressive. However, you don’t eat beets raw, and after they were cooked to get the skins off, the colors bled into each other in a bad way. There was no white or red, but rather a kind of pale pink beet with barely distinguishable rings. Some were pinker than others and a few were so un-pink as to be downright pale and icky looking. The chickens got those–if I’m going to serve beets I want them to look nice. This was one of the best ones for retaining it’s stripes.
Most turned out very bled together. Bummer since they were really so pretty and striking to begin with.
The golden beets, which I did not photograph, were really pretty golden orange when raw, but faded when they cooked to a nasty yellow/green/weird color. The horse got all of those–I’m sure I’d have a mutiny from the entire family if I tried serving them.
So that was a fun beet experiment even though I wasn’t really pleased with the end results. However, I did learn that I really like deep red colored beets best for eating, so we’ll just stick to plain ol’ red beets next time. :)
Keep preparing! Angela
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small farm girl says
Thanks! I always wondered about those beets.
Peggy says
Did you try the golden beets? They are by far my favorite beet… They didn't seem as "earthy" and were a bit sweeter (at least when we grew them in Alaska but then the sweetness factor could be due to the cool summers!) My family doesn't eat them so I only grow a few for fresh eating, dehydrating (for single servings of borsch), a couple of jars to pickle, and for the freezer. But then my family all revolt at the mention of beets any way! LOL :)
Amarone wine says
Wow those beets are looking good,I'm planing to have one of those too.
suek says
When I was young, my Mom fixed Harvard Beets. No idea about the name…but they're plain beets with a vinegar-sugar-cornstarch thickened sauce. The funny thing is that while the recipe is in the Joy of Cooking and a couple of older cookbooks I have, it isn't in any of the new veggie-focused cookbooks I have.
If you haven't tried them like that, you might check online for a recipe.
John W. says
Hard to believe that you are running a gardening blog when you threw out the cooked Chiogga beets because they did not look as pretty as raw. they are excellent eating, very sweet and tender. Stop thinking so in the box.
Angela says
Any beets that didn’t go in the freezer went to the chickens. And I did keep the majority of those Chioggia beets. I think it was the golden beets that mostly were sent to the horse and chickens last fall. I would not have a problem keeping all of them, but didn’t feel it necessary with the piles and piles of regular beets I already had in the freezer. The freezer is only so big and I try to use the space well for a variety of foods I know my family will eat! ;)
Danielle says
So so sad that you threw away beautiful beets to feed livestock because you didn’t like the color when cooked. Have you though maybe it was the way you cooked them? If you boil golden beets with the leaves yes you will get a drab gold green color. If you chop up the Chioggia and boil them of course the colors will bleed! Just add a couple teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice in the water to prevent the colors from running. Or roast them whole and slice them afterwards and you will have perfect coloring. What a shame.