And the (Gold) Beet Goes On

by Judy Sobeloff, from the June 2003 newsletter

What is it about beets? People seem to have such a visceral response to them. My mother, for example, won’t touch them. The first time I tasted beets as a child, at someone else’s home, I remember feeling a twinge of disloyalty.

Unbeknownst to those who feed their beets to the family dog, there’s been a beet revolution. Nowadays, in addition to standard red beets, we can also feed on or flee from gold, white, and candy-striped beets. Having recently tasted the gold variety for the first time, I’m hoping the beet-averse among us might be willing to give these kinder, gentler, non-blushing beets a try. Come on, just one bite now.

Researching gold beets, I was intrigued by the following from www.terrafirmafarm.com: “They’re beets, but they’re not red. They don’t run when you cook them, and they don’t do any of the other strange things that red beets do.” What kind of strange things, I wondered? Protected from beets by my upbringing, I knew nothing, but didn’t retain my child-like innocence long. “They turn your pee red,” divulged one friend upon hearing the word “beet.” “Red poop, too,” confided another.

Undeterred, I started with the easiest beet dish possible, baked beets, both red and gold, the kind of recipe which requires almost nothing beyond turning on the oven. I loved the sweet potato-like smell of the beets while they were baking. Just as we were tucking into our baked beets, the phone rang. It was my mother. She took the beet news well, but said, “I never liked beets. I had a terrible experience with them when I was eight-years-old.”

My husband Fred and I, however, enjoyed both the red and gold baked beets immensely. I was eager for my neighbor Betsy to compare the gold and red beets, having learned during a previous taste test that her brother is a coffee broker world-famous for his palate. She paused, looking thoughtful. “The gold is a little milder. They have a nice low level sweetness.” After eating first red, then gold, then red again, she was surprised to find that “now the red tastes even stronger to me.”

Flush with confidence, I served Betsy a slightly more advanced variation, sprinkling the baked beets with goat cheese and broiling them. Betsy said, “I'd serve this version first if I wasn’t sure people liked beets. I wouldn’t tell people what they were and just say, ‘Try this.’ I think people have a bad association with the pickled red beets that come out of a jar, especially kids of the 60s and 70s.”

For my next beet adventure, I made a creamy gold borscht. Although borscht is traditionally served cold (and red), Fred and I found the gold borscht delicious both hot and cold. Zevi, age 7, was rendered speechless upon tasting the gold borscht, initially able only to give me an enthusiastic thumbs-up sign. “I loved it!” he said, licking his lips. “I think it was the best soup I ever tasted!” His younger brother, Louis, age 5, was less committal, venturing, “I put my tongue in it and it was kind of good.” The boys’ mother, Lesley, expressed surprise: “It doesn’t taste like beets, because I always think of beets as having kind of a dirt taste and this is much milder.”

Later, my sister Susan called from California, pleased with a gold beet soup with red beet garnish she had made in a cooking class called “Food and Mood” taught by Nishanga Bliss. When I expressed amazement that suddenly both of us were cooking with beets, she said, “I thought it was alright since I wasn’t planning to serve it to Mom.” I thought this gorgeous gold beet soup was good hot, but I liked it even better cold the following day. This soup is a more nuanced, heart-healthier vegan alternative to the gold borscht, worth making for the artistic opportunity alone: swirling the red beets around in the gold soup leaves a fabulous pink trail.

So, for those who want to bestow upon their children a legacy of beets, I suggest starting with the gold ones and moving on to the red. And for those who may have given up on beets, you might want to give the gold ones a try, or at least ask a friend to serve you the broiled goat cheese version without telling you what it is.

Baked Beets (Recipe adapted from Kris Wetherbee)

Preheat oven to 400F. Wash and trim 4-6 medium beets, leaving about 1 inch of stalk attached. Wrap beets together in foil and crimp edges to seal. Place in upper third of oven. Bake approximately 1-1/2 hours, until tender but still firm. Slip off skins and trim off stalks before serving.

Optional next step: Top with crumbled goat cheese and broil for a few minutes.

Note: It’s recommended to leave the baked beets wrapped until you’re ready to eat them. I learned the hard way that because red beets do run, it’s best to put the packet in a bowl or other container to prevent an unfortunate, uncalled-for fridge mess.

Gold Borscht (Recipe adapted from Chef Ray Sandon, Calhoun Beach Club)

1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
4 large gold beets
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp tumeric

Sauté onions in butter for approximately four minutes. Add broth, gold beets, and cream. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes. Add vinegar and tumeric. Pour in blender and purée until smooth. Optional toppings: sour cream or yogurt, pumpernickel croutons, fresh dill.

Gorgeous Gold Beet-Carrot Soup with Red Beet Garnish (Recipe adapted from Nishanga Bliss, L.A.C.)

2 medium onions, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
5 cups water or vegetable stock
3 gold beets, cubed
4 large carrots, chopped in 1/2 " rounds
1 tsp thyme
3-6 Tbsp white miso
1 red beet (for garnish)
1 tsp ume vinegar or 1 tsp lemon juice and pinch salt

Sauté onions in olive oil until brown at edges. Add gold beets, carrots, and water or stock, and cook 30 minutes or until beets feel done. At the same time, boil whole red beet in a separate pot covered with a lid. Add thyme and miso to gold beet mixture and purée. Add lemon juice if desired and salt to taste. Serve hot or cold.

To make garnish, run red beet under cold water to cool. Slip off peel, grate red beet, and toss with wine vinegar or lemon juice and salt.

Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes and images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective contributors, except were otherwise noted.

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