Wow Skybird - I'm going to try your Royal Chantanay! Those are impressive. Although my veggie garden is just going into it's 3rd year, so the soil needs some more improvement for sure! It started out very nice, but boy - it was tough getting carrots out this year. (Funny though - the soil around the potatos was always very soft.)

My carrots were "Touchon" and "Nelson". I labeled the rows with temporary labels and then never went back with permanent so I can't compare the two! I did get some nice carrots, but nothing like Skybird's.

I grew beets for the first time "German Lutz Winter Keeper ". They seemed very good, but I have nothing to compare them with. They are still in the garden, and like Skybird, I have dumped leaves on them and will dump more to keep longer.

I also grew "All American" parsnips and "Candy" onions. Haven't eaten much of the onions. They didn't get very big, but I'm just learning how to grow these, so next year I hope to do better.

I planted Yukon Gold potatoes and just a generic red from the nursery. Again, the reds were just fabulous!! Next year that will be all I grow I think. (Unless I get seduced by something in a seed catalog!)

Alice

The only root crop I grew was carrots. Well, onions too, but they were from sets, so it was some unnamed yellow.

The carrots I grew this year were Rainbow Mix, Purple Haze, and Scarlet Nantes. The Rainbow Mix was the largest, some of them almost a foot long! I liked the Purple Haze for salads, but they looked a little weird when they were cooked. The germination wasn't as good on that variety either.

Here is a photo of the Purple Haze and Rainbow Mix:

In case anyone is interested, that bell pepper is Revolution, and the tomatoes are Azoychka, Moskvich, and San Marzano.

The Scarlet Nantes grew short and fat, like your carrots Skybird, but I prefer the longer, thinner ones, since they are easier to slice. Plus, I always felt kind of cheated when I saw all of the top growth, then dug up a stumpy carrot, LOL.

I have seeds for another kind called Nigel, but didn't have the space to plant any this year, so I'll try it next time.

Bonnie

Alice, Touchon are larger than Nelson but not as consistent. I like Nelson partly because of their consistency.

Warrior beets have done fine for me and I grew Early Wonder for years 'n' years. Lately, it's been Red Ace, however. It's the consistency thing, again.

Caribe potatoes did just fine for me even if the replanting in July didn't pan out. They are early altho' probably not really earlier than Yukon Gold. And, they are keeping well in the basement.

The purple skin and white flesh make for a pretty spud. It could be that ALL garden potatoes are better tasting than the ones in the supermarkets. Don't know but Caribe are good.

I'm happy to have Diamant Celeriac. And no, I don't know about any other variety or how many choices one has. Celeriac has to be the ugliest veggie goin' but it adds a lot to Winter meals. Other than requiring indoor starting and a season-long place in the garden, it isn't any trouble. I feed it well and it rewards me with nice starchy roots.

German Giant radishes are good. It was my first year with them. I'd expected problems but no - they are sweet right up until they start getting real big. When they are young, they couldn't be more tender and crisp. I was pleased with this variety.

Winner hybrid kohlrabi are a good choice for me. Who'd uv thunk that they'd bother with a hybridizing a kohlrabi??

Forgot to plant parsnips this year . . . What's the matter with my brain?

Should we be writing here about onion family veggies or will you have a "base-of-leaf vegetable evaluations!" thread, Skybird.

digitS'

uh, oh . . . kohlrabi is a "stem" vegetable

LOL! Sorry, Digit! No base-of-leaf vegetable evaluation threadwhich, BTW, Ive never even heard of! I dont grow onions (why dont you start a threadI know there are others around here who grow them), and dont really have much to say about my leekstho I AM delighted with how big they got considering how late I got them in, and that they just seemed to sit there and sit there all summer, and they looked really long and straggly all summerI think not enough sun. But when I went to dig a few, I was absolutely amazed how deeply I had to dig to get them out!

I kept adding more and more grass mulch around them every time I cut the grass, and as near as I can tell, theyre really clean! Im planning to make some potato leek soup in the next couple days! Itll be a first for me!

I just dug my first three parsnips today! What a joband now I have to buy tickets to send the Chinamen who came up thru the hole back to China! The longest one was 15" long, and thats without the tip that broke off still in the ground when I finally managed to pull them out! I took a couple pics, but itll probably be a while before I get them downloaded!

BUTspeaking of kohlrabis, have I got a recommendation for you! I finally found a variety that WORKS for me. Early White Vienna just never developed for me! (I was thinking of starting a kohlrabi threadbut everybody laughed at me when I started one last year! ;-) )

I tried a row of Early White Vienna again this yearthey didnt do anythingand I finally pulled them out and threw them on the compost pile!

And I also tried KOSSACK, seed from Pinetree, and, oh, my, thats the only one Ill ever grow again. They grew all summer, in spite of the heat, and, while I did thin them somewhat, it was nowhere near as much as the EWVs would have needed, but they "bulbed" anyway. I harvested the last dozen a couple weeks ago and theyre keeping beautifully in the fridge. And since you MADE me think about them, Im eating one right now! (Not cooked! Goes back to that all veggies cooked to a pulp and creamed thing!) According to the advertising, they can get absolutely huge and still be good. Mine didnt get huge, probably cause they were fairly close together, but they did get pretty big, and, after being out there all summer, theyre just as crisp as can be. Absolutely not tough! I usually just slice them (the EWV'S) and put a bit of salt on themlike a radishbut these are so good Im eating them without the salt. Theres actually a sweetness about them. Kossack is DEFINITELY a keeper! Dont have a picI was in a hurry the day I brought them inbut they look like kohlrabis!!!

So no jokes about hybridizing kohlrabis! Im glad somebody did!

Skybird

I got my most recent pics downloaded, so heres a pic of the first three parsnips I dug a week ago. Thats an 18" ruler next to them!

And heres pictures of how I "winterize" my root crops! This is what it looked like when I started.

Since cottonwood leaves "slime" when they get wet, I first cleaned all the cottonwood leaves out from between my carrots, beets, and parsnips. Then I cut/cleaned most of the foliage off of them, since they wont really be needing it anywayand since it was flopping all over the place. Heres the area after I cleaned it up. Doesnt look like much, but theres more than it looks likeand plenty to last me thru the winter!

Here it is with the maple leaves dumped on top!

And here it is with the sheet over the top of the whole thing!

All snugly and warm for winter!

Skybird

Good for you Skybird - excellent parsnips and those leeks look fine, too. Hard to judge sizes in pics but I crowd the leeks and put them in a shady spot because they at least tolerate the location.

It is easy to see that the southside of my leek bed has much larger plants than in the interior. But, they all taste the same - and they are remarkably good in Winter soups.

Root storage looks good. We'll all hope that the: EMM . AYE . SEE . EEE don't find it. Darn things . . .

d'S'

I did not do much in the way of root crops this year. I concentrated on the tomatoes and peppers, since I did not have enough beds to go around. I did plant some garlic that I have not pulled yet and potatoes from Wood Prairie. I ordered because of the potato beetles. King Harry claims to resist them, actually be unattractive to them because the leaves have little hairs on them. I never found a potato beetle on them, but I never found a potato beetle on the Russian Bananas that I planted either. I did plant late, July, and I put them in containers of sorts. The King was planted in a 6'x6'x4' wooden "crate" with chicken wire around the wood slate to help hold the soil. The Russians were in an old stock tank with the bottom removed. I only got about 5# from the 1# of Russian I planted, but the King came in with over 25# of nice potatoes. We had some the other night and when boiled, they held together really well. They did not taste all watery either. I may have paid a little more for them, but I think they were worth it. They are going to be great in soups.

Billie

Home-grown leeks and potatoes are fabulous! They taste so much better than the store-bought. Home-grown leeks are usually quite a bit easier to clean than store-bought, in my experience.

Are you going to experiment with different varieties? The hardiest winter leeks will survive near-zero temperatures with no problem. If you can mulch the bed to keep the ground from freezing, you shouldn't have any trouble keeping them or storing them.

Potatoes are wonderful to grow. Try getting some different varieties and not just what the grocery stores have to offer. I love the different colors, textures, and tastes that are out there. You'll find definite differences between varieties. The flavor is usually richer for home-grown, too.

Fingerlings are really fun to grow. Cranberry Red (which might also go by the name All Red) makes great mashed potatoes. It's fun to make multi-colored oven-fries or layered potato casseroles. And so on.

In late summer or early fall, harvesting the potatoes was always like digging for buried treasure.

Do shallots grow well in this area? That's another in-the-ground crop that's worth growing. It's as easy as garlic, and the results are as good or better than what you can find in the stores.

--jp

I was disappointed with my onions and only one leek survived -- and it looks like a thin, pathetic onion at this point. I haven't had the heart to pull it.

The carrots did much better. "Little Finger" variety from Botanical Interests. Best carrots I've ever tasted! As an experiment I took in a bunch of seedlings from a late August planting and am now growing them in a pot in a south-facing window. They are almost ready to harvest, just in time for Thanksgiving.

And now, some root veggie questions from this going-on-my-second-season newbie --

1) What variety of parsnips works best, or does it matter? I just tried parsnips for the first time in my life this week and found that I love them!

2) I planted some garlic a couple of weeks ago, and now it's coming up. Should I mulch them or just leave them to their own devices?

3) Speaking of mulch: I wasn't able to get any leaf mulch, because our neighborhood is new and relatively treeless. Any ideas? Or is it too late?

I dont know what the EMM . AYE . SEE . EEE . are, Digit, but if thats the critters that EAT stuff, I dont seem to have any around here. (Ive been a little bit afraid to jinx myself by posting it, but I dont seem to have any of that curly leaf stuff you guys have been talking about on the tomato thread either!) About the only critter Ive ever seen in my backyardbesides the CATS that people dont controlthat scare off and sometimes EAT my birdsis an occasional mouse in my perennial beds. And I DO think its just a few mice out there, and not volestho they move so fast I cant be sure, but Ive never found any underground damage to any of my plants, perennials OR veggies. So, knock on wood, the root crops will safely make it thru the winter as well as they did last winter.

My "generic" leeks (some of you may remember, they begged me to take them home when I was at Paulinos last spring!) were planted right against the east side of my house. Im sure thats why they got so straggly and floppy. But the "bottoms" turned out great, so I guess the floppiness didnt make any difference. My potato leek soup, BTW, turned out great. It could have used a few more leeksit sure looked like plenty in the beginningbut I hurt my back pretty badly when I was cleaning leaves out of the perennials a little over a week ago, and I just wasnt up to digging up a couple more to add to the soup, but next time Ill definitely put in a few more for more flavor. Heres a pic of my floppy leeks in early fall.

Ive never had a problem with beetles either, Billie, potato or flea or any other kind. I guess Im just lucky! Except for the whatever-it-was that was doing evil to my eggplants and the one tomato plant early this springthat I did manage to finally get rid ofeven tho I DIDNT know what it was, the only other thing I had any problem at all with this year was aphids, and they were only on the Early White Vienna kohlrabis, and thats the one Im not gonna grow again. I tried spraying them with Palmolive water first, but they were too infested, and since they werent developing into anything edible again, I just pulled them out. The Kossack kohlrabis didnt get the aphids, so maybe thats another reason to grow that variety. And kohlrabis are the only cole crop I grow, mostly because they ARE so susceptible to aphidstheyre just not worth the effort considering my very limited space.

Good to see youve come to join us, Poly! To catch you up on what most of the others around here know, my veggie garden is TINY! Its just 3' on each side of the stepping stones down the middle.

Im standing in the tomatoes, and thats the whole garden in the pic! I LOVE peas and cukes and spinach and beets and parsnips and wax beans, so the space left for other things is very limited. The leeks this year were a whim when I was at Paulinos, and since I dont have room to plant even one whole bunch if I ordered some "real" ones, Ill probably just pick up another tiny 6-pack again next year to have a few of them. Its a cheap way to grow a fewit was just a couple dollarsand no shipping. Several people around here have raved about the homegrown shallots (Ive never even had store bought ones!), so if I can find a place where I can get just a few, I may try them next year. Im skipping the chard next year, so that would give me a tiny corner to put in a few.

And the story of my Compost Pile Potato Garden is kind of interesting! At least I think so! During the summer of 06 I found something growing in my compost pile (thats the compost pile in the pic at the far end of the garden), and never figured out what it was. Tried to pull it out a few times, and the foliage just broke off, without getting any "roots!" Spring of 07 the same thing started growing, and I was getting really curious by then, so I pulled out one of the very small plantswith normal looking rootsand stuck it in a 3" pot! At first it seemed to grow pretty well, but after a couple months it started to get yellowand I still couldnt figure out what it wasso I decided to give up and throw it out. When I knocked it out of the pot and started to knock the soil off of the roots, I found these funny little "bulby protrusions" on the "roots!" My first instinct was to assume it was yellowing and dying because it had some sort of a root diseasebut then I looked again and realized I was growing a potato plantin a THREE INCH POT! We never grew potatoes when I was a kid, so I didnt know what the foliage looked like! Now I do! I took my 3" potato plant and planted it back in the edge of the compost pilethe only place there was for it. In early fall I dug up my "potato patch" and had some of the yummiest, and tiniest, potatoes I had ever had. In spring of 08 I decided to "intentionally" grow some potatoes, so I raked some of the half finished compost down into a small, unoccupied, space next to the compost pile (its between the compost pile and the air conditioner - picture further up), put the dozen growing potatoes I had in my cabinet on top of the compost (had been saving them for that purpose), and pulled more compost down on top of them. Hence, my entire potato harvest this year, pictured above on an 8½" plate. I dont have any space except right next to the compost pile to plant potatoes, so I wont be experimenting with varieties or anything like that, but its fun to grow a few, and they ARE so good! Sure wish I still had my acre and a half down at Parker and Arapahoe Roads so I could have a BIG veggie gardenas if I could ever afford that property again! But at my "advanced age" I guess I better just stick to my tiny little garden! Dont really know how Id manage a couple acres anymore anyway!

So thats the "short version" of my potato garden story! If you think Im long winded, youre right! You should have seen my Reflections on Compost tome last spring!

Oh! And my leeks are also covered with maple leaves. I didnt take a picture of just them, but you can see the edge of the sheet on the right side in the pic above. So theyre all safe and sound too, until I want them sometime over winter. Sure am glad I can get all the maple leaves from my neighbor to mulch the veggies with! Perfect overwinter insulating mulch!

Just saw your post as I was about to post this, Laura. The only parsnips Ive grown is Harris Model. I was thinking of trying a different variety this year, but I never got around to ordering the seed, and I had grown some of my own fresh Harris Model seed in 07, so I just used that. Ive been really happy with Harris, and I probably wont switch to anything else at this point unless I come up with a really good reason to try something else. And Harris Model is available EVERYWHERE!

Cant help you with the garlic! Because of my job I rarely eat it! I DO like it, tho! But Im sure somebody else will be along to answer your question.

What is it you want to mulch? Veggies? I know youre all the way up in Ft. Collins, but if you get down to Denver (Thornton), and want to stop by, I could give you 2 or 3 bags of my neighbors maple leaves! I have everything mulched, and still have some left over that I was just going to slowly put on the compost pile overwinter as the pile "goes down!" If you can get CLEAN (no weed seeds) hay, you could fluff it up and mulch with that, or clean straw would be even better. Straw is another great insulating mulch. Let me know if youd like to get some of the maple leaves! I have plenty left!

Skybird

Uh, I believe that was code for M..I..C..E : )

ROFL! I actually said that outloud to myself, but didn't put the letters together into a word!

poly - glad you mentioned the Cranberry Reds. I was just drooling over them in the Woodland catalog (online cuz my catalogs have not shown up yet). I was thinking of ordering a red to try next year. Is it a good choice? I have had plenty of potato beetles here. If you want some Skybird, I'll share, no problem LOL.

laura - I live on the eastern plains, no trees here either. When I go to town, I take the truck and patrol the older neighborhoods with the really big trees. I actually had two older gentlemen flag me down to see if that was what I was doing, gathering leaves. When I said yes, they gave me theirs and told me what neighbors had more. In all I have hauled three truckloads of leaves home (probably 60+ bags) and I have at least one more load waiting for me to pick up at a friend's mother's neighbor's church (if you can follow that, please explain it to me, LOL). Once you start looking for them, it is really easy to spot. When you see trash sitting by the side of the road, if there are more than two bags and a can, ir may be leaves. If the bags are really rounded, it is probably leaves. If you touch the bag and it rustles, it is definatly leaves. If the homeowner is around, greet them and ask if they mind, but I don't go out of my way for stuff that is roadside. I have also seen great piles of bagged leaves next to homes. If you are not shy, I am not, go up and ask, I have yet to have a homeowner tell me that I could not take them. Just try to check and make sure the yard does not look really weedy. My last run, I even had the trash man help me load them!!!

Billie

Laura, I'm with Billie - I pick up leaves when I go to town too. I live east of Colorado Springs and we don't have many trees in my area. I've loaded up the truck a few times, and once even the truck and trailer! I found a neighborhood that I've had good success with, and just cruise around looking for the bags. I've gotten some funny looks when I ask if I can take their leaves, but as soon as I say I want them for my garden, it makes sense to them, and they're happy to have me take them, make that VERY happy!

Billie -- I don't know how the Cranberry Red (aka All Red) potatoes will do here. I grew them in a different part of the country. We liked them a lot. They were not huge potatoes, but they were a decent size and kept well for most of the winter.

The flavor, texture, and color are unlike anything you will find in the average grocery store. Isn't that a good enough reason to try them?

German Butterballs were a good yellow potato for us, but I can't remember what they were best for. They had a nice deep yellow color and a good flavor. Yukon Golds and Yellow Finns are other good yellow potatoes that are easy to find.

Our favorite fingerlings were Rose Finn Apple. They are yellow with a nice firm texture. We sliced them for pan sautes or oven-fries, or roasted them whole. Other fingerlings are good, too. Like the larger potatoes, they come in a variety of colors and textures. Some are good bakers, others are boilers, some hold their shape well and remain firm, others are wonderful when mashed, and so on.

Ronniger's Potatoes ( http://www.ronnigers.com/ ) is a good source of unusual potatoes and other root crops. They were extremely reputable when I used to order from them, back in the days when I actually had a vegetable garden. Or use your favorite potato supplier, or Seed Savers Exchange, etc.

--jp

Thanks for the kind offer, Skybird! We'll be heading through DIA after Thanksgiving; perhaps I MIGHT be able to convince the husband to drive a little out of our way to Thorton, if we're not too tuckered out from flying across the country.

The asking around method sounds like a winner, as well. We do have some older neighborhoods up north with trees. (Now if I can only get up the nerve to go up to stranger's doors !) ;)

Laura,

I just checked your bio page and you dont have private messaging enabled, so Ill post this here! I could possibly be working on Thanksgiving and/or for the 3 days after. If you think youll be able to stop by to pick up some leaves, let me know, and I could put them outside the gate and send you the directions on how to get here before I leave. I was just moving bags around today and dumping more on the compost pile, and I could give you 4 bags of maple leaves (and I could throw some parsnip seed in too). To get here from DIA youd take Tower Road all the way north to 120th, and then 120th west to Colorado Blvd. Once youve picked up the leaves you could take Colorado Blvd. north to 136th, go 2 miles west to I25, and youd be back on your way to Ft. Collins. I THINK PMing thru GW is working for me now, so you can go to my bio page and click on send me an email. Post here if you do, so I can let you know for sure that I got it. Last year it didnt work for me most of the time!

Id need to know by Monday sometime to be able to send you my address. I work again on Monday, and since Im on reserve, I could conceivably be gone for 6 days without getting back home! Its not likely, but its possible!

If you check around some neighborhoods for bags of leaves, and theyre out by the curb, as others have said, you dont even really need to ask. If you do find some leaves up there, be sure youre not using cottonwood or aspen leaves. Theyll pack down and act like a wet blanket on top of everything and itll rot. Be sure its maple or some other kind of "light, fluffy" leaves that wont pack down.

Skybird

Eeep, I need to fix my PM thingy.

We won't be getting back until after the 3rd of Dec, I think. I'll talk to my guy and see what he says.

Once again, thanks so much for the offer. :)

The aspens don't seem to shred either, at least for me. I tried the shredder/mulcher and my leaf blower/vac. I was going to try the lawnmower, but I didn't want to have to rake them back up if that didn't work either!

The beauty of knocking on a stranger's door is, if they think you're as crazy as you feel at that moment, it really doesn't matter - chances are, you NEVER have to see them again! True, you probably don't have to ask, but I feel like I'm stealing, even if it's trash. My DH thinks I'm a little nuts... But really, they look at me funny at first, but as soon as I say I can use them in my garden, they smile, and get so much friendlier. It seems to make people happy.

LOL! The first time I got my neighborsdirectly across the street from methe year before last, I waited till they put them by the curb for pickup the next morning and went over there in the dark to bring all 14 bags across the street! Last year I waited till they were raked and went over and rang the bell to ask (the bags were by the side of their garage and I was afraid I might be out of town when they put them out for pickup). Theyre BIG kid answered and I think he thought I was nuts, but he said, ok, so I dragged them all home! I kind of wondered if the message ever got thru to his parents! This year, when the tree started turning yellow, I caught the wife when she was heading home from walking the dog one day, and asked her if I could have them when she raked them. It DID help improve the confused look on her face when I said I was gonna use them in the garden and put some on the compost pile! Then I came home from a trip one day and found 18 bags stacked up next to my garage! I did a whattheheck! All the leaves were still ON their maple in the front of their house! I didnt know they had trees in the backyard too! I carried all the bags to the back yard, and the next time I saw her outside I went over to let her know I still wanted the maple leaves! Told here specifically, that time, that they worked really well to mulch the carrots and stuff, and that REALLY made sense to her. When I got back from another trip and the bags were all next to their garage, I just went over and got themto save them having to carry them all across the road. I wasnt real sure what theyd think the first time I asked for themand I DID have to see them againtheyre really nice, and I didnt want them to think I was some kind of a nut! The year of the blizzards in Denver, the year I had my elbow surgery, they shoveled my snow over and over and over, all winter long! Now at least they understand why I want them (I take them veggies sometimes too), and they have WAY plenty for me, so I dont have to go around scavenging elsewhere.

Laura, Ill definitely be off on the 1st and 2nd, so if you decide you want to stop by, let me know by the 2nd. I leave on another trip fairly early on the 3rd, and wont be back till late on the 6th!

Have a nice Thanksgiving everyone,
Skybird

My only root crop this year was my variety of radishes. They all did well as always...That is until the flea beetles rolled in. I ended up pulling them out early due to a really big infestion. I wont miss that annual battle next spring.

Now that everyone is starting to order their seeds for this year's garden, I thought I would resurrect this thread to see what everyone was trying this year.

New to me this year:
Atomic Red
Pot O Gold
Touchon Long
Nigel

Still thinking about trying parsnips, and wondering if I grew beets, if we would even eat them. The only ones I have ever eaten were the dark red pickled kind, and I did not like them. Someone talk me into (or out of) growing them this year!

Bonnie

Bonnie, I think you should grow beets.

If not for an appreciation of their roots, then for "baby beets" - maybe my favorite veggie of all time!

I actually like pickled this-and-that but eating more than a forkful or 2 is out of the question. Greens splashed with vinegar can't be beat but the beets aren't pickled in vinegar at my house.

The "greens" issue may be a little tuff for some since beet greens produce a lot of purple juice. So, they will stain your mashed potatoes on the plate. And, since it is best to eat the plants very small, roots and all - they can get a little stringy if you are late with the harvest.

Probably, after several weeks of baby beets, you will be ready to harvest and eat only the leaves off the maturing plants. If you really have no interest in the large roots at the end of the season - heck, you've had months of good eating out of the beet patch.

digitS'

So the leaves are fine mixed in with lettuces or spinach for salads? Other than pickling them, what other ways are the roots themselves prepared?

Bonnie

Hi Bonnie,

Just have a minute. Got home last nite and am getting ready to leave for DIA again.

I like the beet greens in salads--just like lettuce---with lettuce, spinach, etc., or even by themselves.

And I love beets cooked! Happen to like them pickled (my mothers recipe--with my own changes), or just cooked until barely tender and then eaten hot with (real) butter and salt. Or they're good cooked just tender and then julienned cold for on salads---chef's salad style. Or cold, cut up, with your favorite salad dressing on them.

To get the skins off you can stick them in the pressure cooker until just tender (time depends on how big they are---it's a learning process), and then you can very easily "slip" the skins off under cold running water. That way your hands don't get red! To pressure cook them, leave the tails and about an inch of the tops on. They'll slip off along with the skin!

Try a few this year to see what you think,
Skybird

Yeah, "julienned cold for on salads" is good. I'm not one to eat the leaves raw, however.

You've almost seen my usual baby beets with greens recipe. I could add, "And, butter."

Unless they are tiny, it is best to cut the roots off and cook separately. Boil beet roots 10 or 15 minutes until tender. You can then take the skins off the tougher ones.

Put greens in a pot with the butter. Remove some of the stems if they are getting coarse. Add the cooked beet roots to the pot. Get them good and hot, splash with apple cider vinegar and you are done.

You can vary using bacon or just vegetable oil. Vinegar can be other types or lemon juice is good. I'm often inclined to use a full-flavored beer in most everything and the squeeze of lemon juice is good with that.

digitS

We cook the greens like spinach, and have found that a microwave works well for the root.

We also like golden beets, because it's the same flavor, without the red dye all over everything.