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 :)