'Golden' Beets

[Sam Salmon]

Growing up in a house where Ukrainian cuisine the house special I wouldn't touch Borscht-as with many kids the smell put me off.

As a result I never really liked Beets in any way shape or form.

Oh I can recall having them in a salad in a Mexican place in San Jose Costa Rica and 'weren't bad' but Costa Rican cuisine is so awful I probably needed a pick me up of something after months of Gallo Pinto.

Anyway about so called Golden Beets has anyone here eaten them and are they a unique, flavourful and taste worthy experience?

Or do they taste like a bowl of dirt?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Golden beets are wonderful! They do not taste as earthy as the red beets tend to ... the recipes for different ways of preparing golden beets are numerous and I will bring more info here shortly

recent thread I began last week .. some good ideas here

one of my very favorite recipes from Alice Waters

[JAZ]

I like red beets, and to me the golden ones are okay, but very mild. A couple of friends of mine who don't like red beets like the golden ones, so maybe you'd like them too.

[jschyun]

what they said.

there's also white beets.

[Pan]

Tell us more about white beets; I don't think I've never seen them.

[Gifted Gourmet]

White beets ...

[beccaboo]

Chiogga beets are less earthy tasting, too. At least, back when I didn't like beets because they taste like dirt, I thought Chioggas were not quite as bad as the regular ones. Edited October 29, 2004 by beccaboo (log)

[jschyun]

I haven't tried white beets myself, but I see them all the time in the garden catalogs which is how I know they exist.

Chiogga beets are pretty good, very sweet and I didn't think they tasted like dirt, but then I don't think regular beets taste like dirt so maybe I'm the wrong person to ask. I grew these last year, and my mom put some in her kimchi and it was very pretty with the pink and white stripes, and was sweet and crunchy.

[andiesenji]

They had these at the produce market a month or so ago. They called them "bullseye" beets.

I grew the golden beets one year. Unfortunately no one but me seemed to like them so I didn't repeat the experiment.

[Pan]

Those Chioggia beets are beautiful!

[bloviatrix]

I made a white beet soup last night. I find they're sweeter than red beets. They sign at the greenmarket calls them "sugar" beets.

Pan, if you hit the Union Square Greenmarket on Wed, Paffenroth carries all the varieties.

[Pan]

That sounds like a good Pennsylvania Deutsch name. Thanks for the info.

[birder53]

I don't like beets. I will try them if they are served just to see if my taste has changed. However, those golden beets are so beautiful in the produce section that I am tempted to try them. I have several recipes for braised/roasted winter veggies that I would like to try and they invariably include parsnips, which I have never had, turnips, which I hate , and sometimes these beautiful golden beets. I never thought beets tasted like dirt, they always just made me gag. The ones served at home were sliced red beets from a can - sometimes hot and sometimes cold. Nasty either way! So, what can I expect taste wise from winter root vegetables? I'm ready to try them again.

[Pan]

I thought I hated beets until I had fresh ones. Canned beets suck; never use them again and see what you think of fresh beets.

[Gifted Gourmet]

sliced red beets from a can - sometimes hot and sometimes cold.  Nasty either way! 

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There is absolutely no resemblance between the fresh beets one roasts and enjoys, in any number of ways, and canned beets! They, canned beets, are hardly representative of what a beet ought to taste like .. go back and see if you aren't surprised at how great fresh roasted beets taste!

If I said that the last two posts bear any "uncanny" resemblance to each other, and they were posted at the precise same time, would you want to "beet" us both to death??

[jschyun]

when someone said sugar beets, it triggered a memory. sugar beets are white so I guess that's what the white beets are.

here's a link to sugar beets

[bloviatrix]

I don't like beets.  I will try them if they are served just to see if my taste has changed.  However,  those golden beets are so beautiful in the produce section that I am tempted to try them.  I have several recipes for braised/roasted winter veggies that I would like to try and they invariably include parsnips, which I have never had, turnips, which I hate  , and sometimes these beautiful golden beets.  I never thought beets tasted like dirt, they always just made me gag.  The ones served at home were sliced red beets from a can - sometimes hot and sometimes cold.  Nasty either way!  So, what can I expect taste wise from winter root vegetables?  I'm ready to try them again.

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If you want to change your mind about beets, turnips, parsnips, etc --dice 'em up, toss them in some duck fat and slow roast in low oven. They will taste like the best vegetables you have eaten in your life!!!

[Squeat Mungry]

I thought I hated beets until I had fresh ones. Canned beets suck; never use them again and see what you think of fresh beets.

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If you think you don't like beets, make yourself a roasted beet risotto:

Roast your beets at 375 F for 45 minutes to an hour. Let them cool until you can handle them and watch the peels slip away like magic. Start your risotto. I do the cup of wine first method. After you toast your rice and reduce the wine, throw the diced beets in with the first ladle of stock. Proceed as usual with the risotto. You'll like it!

Edit to add: Sweat some diced onions in the oil before you start the risotto, and throw in the beet tops before you toast the rice.

Edited October 29, 2004 by Squeat Mungry (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

--dice 'em up, toss them in some duck fat and slow roast in low oven.  They will taste like the best vegetables you have eaten in your life!!!

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Pretty much anything roasted in duck fat turns you on, huh, Bloviatrix?? your picture is on the wall in the "wanted dead or alive" photo gallery at the duck post office ...

[bloviatrix]

--dice 'em up, toss them in some duck fat and slow roast in low oven.  They will taste like the best vegetables you have eaten in your life!!!

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Pretty much anything roasted in duck fat turns you on, huh, Bloviatrix?? your picture is on the wall in the "wanted dead or alive" photo gallery at the duck post office ...

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Hi, my name is Bloviatrix and I'm addicted to duck fat.

I'll admit, I can't look at a duck without thinking "Dinner!"

[StudentChefEclipse]

I adore beets in any way, shape or form. "Beets" me why people think they taste like dirt. (Pardon me, I am simply in a mood not to avoid horrid puns.) In fact, when some tells me something tastes like dirt, I frequently wonder how much they've tasted, and how one rates the taste of dirt.

(I know, I know, what you mean is the beets taste the way dirt smells, because few of us would actually ingest soil on purpose. It's that same mood. )

[andiesenji]

I like roasted beets, with or without duck fat, although I have to admit that the duck fat adds a lot of ooomph to the beets.

I like Harvard beets too. However there are some varieties of pickled beets that do have an earthy, almost a moldy, aroma/flavor that I can't stand. Other people can't seem to taste it.

Just as some people sense the taste of cilantro as being soapy, it is an individual characteristic.

[ludja]

If you think you don't like beets, make yourself a roasted beet risotto:

Roast your beets at 375 F for 45 minutes to an hour. Let them cool until you can handle them and watch the peels slip away like magic. Start your risotto. I do the cup of wine first method. After you toast your rice and reduce the wine, throw the diced beets in with the first ladle of stock. Proceed as usual with the risotto. You'll like it!

Edit to add: Sweat some diced onions in the oil before you start the risotto, and throw in the beet tops before you toast the rice.

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