Beets
Beets at Featherstone come in many colors and sizes, and you’ll find that their character changes throughout the season. In the spring, we plant both red and gold beets to bunch for early CSA boxes. Ideally, we send out tender early summer beets with thin skins and lofty vibrant leaves to cook with alongside the roots. Sometimes though, pounding rain or excessive periods of damp weather lead to breakdown in beet greens. From week to week we assess the quality of greens to decide if they are nice enough to send to our customers. If not, we may have to remove the greens and send the beets out bagged without them. Either way, early season beets are more tender with thin skins that do not require peeling.
Our late summer/fall crop includes more red and gold beets along with the fancy bullseye chioggia type. It’s possible you’d see some bunched green tops from this crop- but after a summer of growing through Minnesota humidity, thunderstorms, & heat, those green tops are less likely to hold up for fall harvest. Our fall and winter beets tend to be larger with thicker skins that you may want to peel before eating.
Storage Tips
Beet roots should be stored in the fridge, ideally with greens removed and kept separately, and will keep well for weeks or even months. Before cooking, scrub clean—no need to peel early-season beets, as their skins are thin and tender, but larger late-season beets may benefit from peeling after cooking if the skins feel tough. Beets can be eaten raw when freshly grated into salads for a sweet, earthy crunch, or cooked by roasting, boiling, or steaming until fork-tender to bring out their natural sweetness. Roasting them whole (wrapped or covered) concentrates flavor and makes skins easy to remove afterward, and they pair especially well with vinegar, citrus, herbs, and salty or creamy ingredients like cheese or yogurt.