FOOD
Fresh Focus
FALL 2012
celebratedliving.com
60
GOLDEN
AND
CHIOGGIA
BEETS
PlusTheir Greens
The golden beet and the “candy stripe” Chioggia—which
hails from Italy— are both heirloom vegetables. In addition
to these two, there aremany other kinds of beets including
red beets, white ones, beets that are grown for animal fodder
(manglewurzels), and beets that are cultivated for sugar. Beets
are closely related to chard and spinach and their greens can
be cooked in theways these two greens are.When youfind
beetswith their greens, sort through the leaves, discard the
long stems and any yellow or torn foliage, and plan to cook
them right away. Theymay look leathery, especially those from
the golden beets, but they cook quickly to tenderness and are
very good (and attractive) steamed and servedwith the roots,
whether warm or cool, as a salad.
Beets are beautiful, but they can present a challenge
to otherwise good eaters. The interesting thing about this
vegetable is that it is both earthy and sweet, and those two
aspects sometimes quarrel with one another and turn people
into beet haters. There is a secret with beets, though. To bridge
thesewarring elements— sugar and earth, if youwill — into
a happier whole, use acid in the form of vinegar or citrus. The
sharp tastes of lemon or lime juice, an aged red vinegar, or a
sweeter balsamic vinegar work to unite these two elements
and turn them into amuch happier pair. There’s a reasonwhy
Harvard beets are seasonedwith orange, or why beets are
so often pairedwith goat cheese in a salad: The pungency is
needed tomake these elements sing. Evenwarm beetswith
butter are better with a squeeze of lemon or a dash of vinegar.
