Harvesting Bulls Blood Beets - 2016

This weekend we transplanted our tomatoes into the garden that we had grown from seed.  It was nice to get that done.  The only thing we have left to plant is peanuts and then to transplant our yellow squash, zucchini squash, and cucumbers that we have grown from seed.  BUT, before we do that, we need to make room in the garden.  That means harvesting an existing crop.

Fortunately we have a row of Bull's Blood Beets that are ready to pull out of the ground.  They have become a favorite variety of ours.  They are a little different from other beets in that the greens are a dark red color that resembles the color of blood.  Here are some of the bull's blood beet greens:

Bull's Blood Beet foliage

A quick tug and the fat beet is out of the ground, fitting nicely into the palm of my hand.  It is plump and about the size of a tennis ball.

Perfect size!

I pulled up about half of the row, filling a colander with a bountiful portion of what will become one of tonight's side dishes.

Beautiful!

I take them in and but off the greens and then use a potato peeler to skin the beetroot.  The deep red color almost hurts your eyes to look at.  Food nutritionists always say that the bright colored crops are the healthiest for you.  If that is so, eating this ought to really add years to your lifespan...

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

I slice up the skinned beets and toss with olive oil, sea salt, and coarse ground pepper.

Ready for the roasting pan

But what about the greens?  Don't throw those away!  We share a few with the cows, but we cook these down just like you would mustard greens, kale, chard or spinach. With beets, we eat everything except the skin and the dirt that was on the skin.  

Although we remove the skins before roasting, you can also roast them whole.  Once they are cooked, the skins slide easily off of the beetroot, leaving a nice red root for you to slice.  

Beet greens washed and ready to cook

And here are some of the beets, hot right out of the oven.  Roasting beets, and any root vegetable, for that matter, is a great way to prepare them.  The sweetness seems to be concentrated in the roasted beets.  Delicious, tasty, nutritious.

A (somewhat embarrassing) word of caution about beets that you should be aware of when eating a bunch of beets like we do at this time of the year:  That beautiful, bright red color you see in the beets?  Well, that bright red color works its way through your digestive system and bladder.  If you aren't prepared, I'm trying to state this subtly and delicately, you can be surprised and scared that you have a significant health problem and are passing blood.  Fear not.  Nothing's wrong.  In fact, quite the opposite.  Eating Bull's Blood Beets is very healthy for you and very flavorful as well.