Winter’s Jewels: How to Grow and Cook Beets and Carrots

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The bright colors of winter root crops such as carrots and beets give a hint at their high nutrition value.
The bright colors of winter root crops such as carrots and beets give a hint at their high nutrition value.
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'Chioggia' beets, displaying their distinctive bull's-eye pattern, are mild and sweet.
'Chioggia' beets, displaying their distinctive bull's-eye pattern, are mild and sweet.
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Golden beets: sunny color, mild flavor.
Golden beets: sunny color, mild flavor.

Brightly colored beets and carrots, so nutrient-dense, are mainstays of the gardener’s winter diet. You’ll find them side by side in cold-weather dishes and in the root cellar as well, although not on the same schedule.

How to Grow and Cook Beets

Beets are the less cold-hardy of the two. In Maine, we can sow beets around Aug. 1, nine to 10 weeks before our fall frost date, and still have them mature in the garden before our first hard frost. Temperatures below 26 degrees Fahrenheit are likely to damage them, so out of the garden and into storage they go.

Beets keep well in sealed plastic bags in the refrigerator, or in a dark root cellar with a temperature just above freezing and at about 90 percent humidity. Of all the storage crops, beets are the most likely to lose moisture and become a bit spongy, but even spongy beets are perfectly nutritious and delicious to eat.

Large storage-beet varieties, such as ‘Bull’s Blood’ and ‘Winter Keeper’ (sometimes called ‘Lutz Green Leaf’), are best to grow for longer keeping, but you might also try ‘Chioggia,’ an Italian variety with a bull’s-eye pattern inside. Golden beets, with their beautiful orange skins and yellow flesh, are popular with some cooks, partly because they don’t bleed. They do have a different flaw, however: They oxidize and thus turn brown when cut, especially if grated and used raw. (Simple Carrot Recipe: Beet and Carrot Boats began as a trio that included grated golden beets, which were gorgeous — but only for a minute.) Because raw beets are not tender, serve them raw only if grated or thinly sliced. Grated or shredded beet salads are popular, and you can make canapés from thin beet rounds spread with goat cheese.

  • Published on Jan 8, 2015
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