Beet greens
 

I used to hate beets when I was a child, but never had the chance to taste the greens. Sauteed or steamed very lightly with olive oil, garlic, shallot, lemon juice, pepper, and the naturally salty flavor of the greens is just delicious!
They are easy to grow in pots, and almost pest-free, which is amazing considering all the pests in my garden.
Chioggia:
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/honu2/garden/070217Chioggiabeetsreadytoharvest-1.jpg[/img]
Golden:
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/honu2/garden/061210goldenbeets1incha.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/honu2/garden/061210goldenbeets1inchb.jpg[/img]

I did not know you could eat the leafy parts of the beet plants. I see you listed two types for eating the greens- can you eat the leaves of all types of beet plants?

Beet Greens
 

Hi GrowSeeds,
You asked,

"can you eat the leaves of all types of beet plants"

Yes, if you can eat the beet, you can eat the top. Another way to serve is to steam lightly (until limp) the sprinkle lightly with vinegar, add a pat of butter, toss and serve, hot. Yummy.

Cheers,
Val aka grungy

Beet greens are almost exactly like Swiss chard so any way you'd use chard, you can use the beet greens. I always like some red wine vinegar on any kinds of greens.

The beet variety "Bulls Blood" is grown not for the golf-ball sized beets it produces, but the large, colorful greens it puts out. Eating beet greens is something that has actually been bred for. :)

Look for an old variety named Lutz Greenleaf.

Fusion

I agree with Fusion. I grew Lutz Greenleaf this past fall. I believe you can get it from Southern Exposure.

I like the flavor of beet greens better than Swiss Chard, although Chard is prettier, especially the Rainbow and Ruby. Now off to harvest the Chioggias, and sow some Albino and Bull's Blood, then go on-line shopping at Southern Exposure for Lutz Greenleaf.
Thanks Fusion and Shelley for the tip on Lutz Greenleaf!

Thanks for the eating the beets greens info guys.

Fusion and shelleybean thanks for posting the Lutz Greenleaf type tip.

Beet greens are wonderful. Better than any other green. I'm not particularly fond of beets but I love the greens.

LoreD

There are a few people who cannot digest the red color of the red beets. Can be scary to them the next day when they are making #1 & #2.

dcarch

When I was young I worked at the A & P as a stock boy and cashier. I would ask everyone who bought beets if they wanted the tops. I would bring home a bag full almost every time I worked. I like them much better than spinach or chard. Lutz green leaf or winter keeper or long keeper are the best ones for greens but any beet has good greens.

[quote=dcarch]There are a few people who cannot digest the red color of the red beets. Can be scary to them the next day when they are making #1 & #2.

dcarch[/quote]

Haha, you are so right. This is kind of nasty, but a few years ago I was going #1, as you say, and noticed what appeared to be blood, which can be a very bad thing. This happened several times so I went to the Dr. and he had me do some pretty unpleasant tests. They found no blood or other problems. He asked me to pay attention to my diet and it turned out that the day after eating a good portion of beets, it looked like blood when it came out.

If you eat the greens does it ruin the beets? Or do you eat both from the same plant?

No, it won't hurt the plant to cut some of the greens off. You can just take some of them if you don't want to pull the entire plant and they'll fill back in. Same goes for turnips and turnip greens.

This was a new one for me...I remember eating beets that my mother seved me as a child...did not care for them much...but I had to eat them if I was going to leave the table :D

It's hard to tell from Honu's pictures how big a beet plant gets...height and width????

Maybe I can squeeze some in the garden :)

Mark, my beet tops usually grow about 8"x8", but I space them about 3", so you can grow a lot in a small area.

I love beets and there are a lot of varieties to choose from. My fav is Cylindra because it produces a really long root and it is easy to peel. I also love Chioggia, which is a really sweet red / white striped beet. I'm trying Golden this year too.

[quote]Beet greens are wonderful. Better than any other green. I'm not particularly fond of beets but I love the greens.[/quote]LoreD, I agree 100%!

[quote]It's hard to tell from Honu's pictures how big a beet plant gets...height and width???? [/quote] Adenn1, The container in the photo is 15" diameter, and about 12" deep, and the leaves of the Chioggia are about 8" long on average. The leaves of Golden were larger than Chioggia. I keep a tray of water under the pot, to keep the bottom moist like a self-watering container would, since I read "they turn woody and bitter if they lack water at any time" (Edward Smith, "Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers"). The Golden had larger and tastier leaves, but the Chioggia beet root was much sweeter than Golden.
I pull them when the beets are about an inch and a half diameter, as I read (in the E. Smith book) this is when the beets taste best.

I seed them about 2 - 3 inches apart, but each seed can grow several plants, so you still end up w/ crowded beets. I don't bother to thin, since I don't care what shape the beets form. To me, everything turns out just fine, even if crowded and some beets are odd shaped.

You can also clip the young tender baby greens to add to salads.

Also, Sandhill sells Lutz.

Thank you both for the information on size and such...buying beets just gave me another reason to place a small order with another seed company I wanted to do business with this year.

I suppose beets are simlar to radishes and like a lighter soil...so I may have to "liberate" some leaf mold compost from my neighboring township. My darn gray clay soil gets dry and it turns harder than concrete :(

Adenn, If you are planning to grow beets in the ground, the following info might be helpful, from Edward Smith, "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible":
"Beets prefer a light soil with a pH of between 6.5 and 7.5. Research at Cornell University has shown that the roots of beets can grow as much as 3 feet into the soil, a fact that emphasizes the benefits of gardening in deeply dug, wide, raised beds.... Good companions: Bush bean, caggage family, corn, leek, lettuce, lima bean, onions, radish.... Bad companions: Mustard, pole bean.... Rotation considerations: Avoid following spinach or Swiss chard."
I have hardpan clay and nematodes, so I prefer growing them in containers. The very loose soil in my containers make it really easy to pull up the beets. You might want to remove sharp rocks from your soil if you don't want your beets to be deformed.

"The beauty of the beet:
All of it you can eat!"

I grew up eating the beet roots and the greens. My Dad liked to eat the leaf stems, too!

I also recommend Lutz Green Leaf. Burpee and Sand Hill Preservation carry it.

(Swiss Chard is related: just a "rootless" beet.)

GTG

I love to eat baby beets with the greens still attached. I like them with a little bit of butter and vinegar.
I love beets too. Sometimes I crave them, and I love them with a salad.

Tyff

Adenn--Well worked soil is good for planting beets to give the roots plenty of room, but the beet itself often sits partially out of the soil--think of an iceberg. It is not totally buried like a potato would be. Beet "seeds" are actually fruits containg several seeds--thus you usually get several plants coming up in one spot and need to thin.

The red pigment in beets is beta cyanine. It is water soluble, heat stable, and acid stable--thus it survives the human digestive system in colorful fashion. :oops: Interestingly, the color of juice from red cabbage is pH dependent--it turns green at basic pH.

Beets are tasty most any way, IMHO.

I don't have the space to grow beets. If I did, I would grow the golden yellow kind which I had longtime ago. I don't remember the name.

dcarch

I had always cooked beets and removed the skins, but now I wonder... Are beet skins actually good to eat? Are raw beets good eats?

Honu :) I think raw beets are good eats... grate them onto a salad, mix grated beets with fresh squeezed orange juice and a sprinkling of sugar, or throw them in the juicer. Beet juice is supposed to neutralize the negative effects of sodium nitrite (?) preservatives in meats like bacon... so if you like to eat that sort of thing, "they" say, wash it down with beet juice! I think I remember reading that they are very good for the gall bladder as well - helps prevent gall stones I think....

I won't say I don't like beet greens, but I do prefer chard or spinach. IMO they are much more tender and even tastier... but tastes do vary. :)

Lisa

Honu--

How big are the pots you are growing the beets in? How many do you thin down to--the beets look much better than what I plant in the ground:)

Lisa, Thanks for the suggestions! You are right about the juice... I put some raw beets, apple and ginger in the juicer, and wow, that was good!

celestina, my pot is about 15" diameter, and 12"deep.
I didn't thin any.

Can you eat the young leaves raw - thrown into a salad?
Just like baby spinach? :)

Spatzbear, Yes, the baby greens are delicious raw in salads.

Oh great! Thanks, Honu! :)
I shall go and pick some for tonight's meal then. There's plenty out there waiting to be picked.