Another Use for a Beet Bumper Crop

We planted three varieties of beets this past fall: Detroit Red, Bull's Blood and Chioggia.  Chioggia is an Italian beet that is white with red stripes and resembles a starlight mint when cut.  We had such a bountiful harvest this year, we don't know what to do with them all.  We've given some away.  We've eaten roasted beets on the regular now for months.  We have a bunch of pickled beets in pint jars in the pantry.  I had a work colleague about 10 years ago who was a missionary in Ukraine, and she shared a recipe with us for Borscht that she got when over there.  That's a good use for beets, too.  

Meet the beets.  The one on your left is the Detroit Red beet and the one on the right is the Chioggia.  The bull's blood beet was unavailable for the photo shoot.

With the main ingredients waiting in the wings, let's get started with today's novel way to use up a bumper crop of beets.  We haven't made this in a few years.  We're making Beet Kvass.  This beverage originated in what is now modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.  We're using a recipe from the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook by Sally Fallon.

So what is beet kvass, you might ask?  It is a healthy tonic that is fermented.  It helps the liver to detoxify your blood.  It is packed with probiotics and aids in your body's digestive process.  So let's make a batch!  It's easy like Sunday morning.

First get three good sized beets and cut them up into chunks.  Put them in a half-gallon Mason jar.  Pour a quarter cup of whey over the beets in the jar.  Add one tablespoon of sea salt to the jar.  Finally, fill the jar with filtered water and stir thoroughly.  Cover the jar and sit at room temperature for 2 days and then place in the refrigerator.

This is what our beet kvass looks like.  It is not as red in coloration as prior batches have been because we used a chioggia beet along with the red beets to make it, but it still has a nice red hue to it.  

I poured myself the first glass this afternoon.  Good stuff!  You're supposed to have 4 ounces of this each day.

Another good way to make use of a great beet harvest.  But wait!  I just thought of another that we haven't thought about yet this year: Making Red Velvet Cake with beets!  That's next on the agenda.

Harvesting Beets

We have been picking beet greens over the past month or so, mixing them with swiss chard, mustard, turnip greens, and brussels sprout leaves.  If you cook them down in a cast iron skillet for just a little bit, wow!  Great flavor and great for you, too!

If you go to the grocery store, you'll notice the toilet paper aisle is wiped out.  Same goes with disinfectant, bread, eggs, water.  One thing you'll likely not see people hoarding - BEETS.  No one has ever said, "There's an impending disaster coming.  Better stock up on beets."  And that's a real shame, too, because they are doggone delicious.

We plant two varieties - Detroit Red Beets and Bull's Blood Beets, planted on a 15 foot row.  The Detroit Reds are maturing first, so we've been pulling them up, peeling them, slicing them, and cooking them.  Tricia likes to pull a handful up for supper.

We like to pull them when they are just slightly smaller than the size of a baseball.  About half the beet root will be above the ground, so they're easy pulling.

A nice "mess" of beets for us is just four or five.  We'll eat the greens if they look good.  If not, the cows will gladly take them off our hands.

A mess of beets

We like them roasted.  Take a regular potato peeler and peel the beet root and then cube them into 2 inch chunks.  Put them on a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and season with a little sea salt and pepper and roast them in the oven.  That's a mighty fine side dish for supper right there.  We haven't even begun to harvest the Bull's Blood Beets yet.  We have a bumper crop.  We will likely harvest and then can a bunch of pickled beets.  I love pickled beets.

Okay, I wasn't going to bring this up, but of course, you know I will.  The consumption of a copious amount of beets has a dirty little secret that you must be forewarned about.  How can I be diplomatic, civil and polite with this?  When you cut up beets, it will stain your hands dark red.  Eating beets will also stain certain things red.  Things that we don't like to mention in genteel conversation.  Looking down in the water and viewing bright red where you don't normally see it will give you quite a scare.  Many have observed this phenomenon and gone to the doctor thinking that they have colon problems, only to find it was just the beets!  Save your co-pay.  It's just the beets.