Deeply purple-red roots (you all know what these look like!). They should be intensely sweet.

Besides purple beets, we also grow some years golden beets (gold inside), which are sweeter and milder, and don't bleed when cooked! We also grow some heirloom Chioggia beets that have a pretty bulls-eye pattern inside (these ones taste the best raw!).

Depending on pressure from pests (beets are so sweet, pretty much every bug, rodent, and Bambi wants to nom on them), we sometimes include the edible tops and other times don’t (if we don’t, it’s because they are past the point of eating, lol).

When it's in Season at Hartwood Farm:

Year round—beets are one of the longest season crops, growing in all weather, and able to store for up months! The first baby ones generally arrive in June or July, and the large storage ones stay good in the winter coolers until February.

Crop Category and What it Tastes Like:

Roots!

Beets are one of our love it or hate it veggies, with their intensely earthy flavor. They should be sweet, but it’s an intense, beet-y sweetness. The golden and Chioggia beets tend to be a shade sweeter than regular beets, but are a bit milder on the beet flavor. Chopping and roasting beets tends to reduce their intensity, while grating and eating raw does not.

How to Handle and Store:

In the fridge in a closed plastic bag, beets can last up to 8 months with proper humidity levels. Like all root veggies, beets store longest when not attached to their greens. If you want to eat the beet greens (which you can prepare like chard, beets’ leafy cousin), we recommend cutting them off of the roots and storing the two in separate bags.

How to Prep for Use:

Peel (if storage varieties, fresh or baby varieties are fine just scrubbed off using a veggie brush), and chop or grate as your recipe calls for. Smaller pieces cook faster. Alternately, if you are roasting whole, skip the peeling--after roasting the skins will slip off the beets on their own.

Beets are incredibly good at transferring their color to everything they touch, so if you have a porous, light colored counter, make sure to clean up right after preparing!

Ways to Cook and Eat:

Any way from raw to baking, boiling, sauteing, roasting, etc. Beets are definitely intensely flavored—our recommendation for beet newbies is to chop and roast them (this greatly mellows the flavor while enhancing their sweetness). Many members like to roast them whole (often pierced and wrapped in foil) and then refrigerating, using slices over the week for salads.

Quick and Dirty Hangry Farmer Go-To Preparations:

We are huge fans of roasted beets--we chop them into medium size pieces, toss with salt, herbs, and oil, and roast at 400-ish for 45 to 60 minutes (until crisping on the outside and tender inside). We also grate them into salads (especially good with carrots) and are fans of chocolate beet cake (bizarrely good, can't taste the beets at all!)

Typical time to:

  • Steam—30 to 40 minutes, depending on size

  • Saute—10 to 30 minutes, depending on recipe and size

  • Bake—35 to 75 minutes, depending on size

  • Boil—25 to 60 minutes, depending on size (our least favorite way to prepare)

Our Favorite Recipes:

Poached Beets (from the Kitchn)—if you want to diversify from roasting beets for salads, you might prefer poaching

Red Flannel Hash (from Eating Well)—for more of a main dish approach, this New England dish is traditionally is a hearty breakfast made with leftover corned beef tossed with beets (or beet greens) and potatoes… this is a vegetarian, more dinner-y take on it

Beets and Sweet Potato Fries (Taste of Home)—it’s not the healthiest preparation, but I do like my beet fries sometimes…