In season: Don’t forget about the humble beet

Beets are divisive. To some, their earthy depth and sly sweetness are irresistible; to others, the root vegetable tastes like dirt.

“The beet is the most intense of vegetables,” Tom Robbins writes in “Jitterbug Perfume.”

“The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Beets are deadly serious.”

Beta vulgaris thrives in cool-weather climates, though it’s believed the vegetable was initially domesticated for its greens several thousand years ago along the Mediterranean coast. By the Middle Ages, European farmers had developed varieties where the root overtook the green in culinary importance.

Beets are a nutritional powerhouse, rich in folate, magnesium, potassium and blood pressure-lowering nitrates. They’re also packed with betalains, pigments with antioxidant properties that give them their vivid hues.

You’ll find a rainbow of beets at the market right now. Red beets, crimson and deep, are the dominant variety for soups, roasting and juicing. Golden beets are a bit milder all around, and they add a nice sunny pop to salads. Chioggia beets are sweet; keep these raw as they lose their candy-cane interior as they cook.

Roasting beets locks in caramelized sweetness, boiling softens them for easy peeling and slicing and steaming preserves their succulence and vivid colors.

Borscht, the jewel-toned soup beloved across Eastern Europe, is a showcase for the beets at their most well-rounded. We should all be eating more borscht.

Over the past few decades, beets have become a salad superstar, too (to a point of cliché). The rustic earthiness of roasted beets serves as a strong bass note on a plate of tangy goat cheese, peppy citrus and crunchy nuts. Pickled beets bring zip to sandwiches and wraps.

Use those good-for-you leafy greens, too. Sautéed with garlic or tossed into pasta, they bring a flavor that echoes their botanical cousin, Swiss chard.

Beets also keep for a very, very long time. Store them in a root cellar, basement or in the back of the produce bin in your fridge and they’ll still be usable a few months after you buy them.

Not everything lasts as long as beets. Pittsburgh’s farmers markets are winding down for the year, so we’re putting In Season to bed for the winter.

Here’s a last word from the great farmer, poet and philosopher Wendell Berry:

“To eat responsibly is to understand and enact, so far as one can, the complex relationship of food, soil and people. The humble beet, pulled from the soil, reminds us of this.”

Beet, Apple and Crunchy Vegetable Salad

This is one of my favorite easy to prepare weeknight side dishes. It’s super customizable and a good fit for any leftover vegetables you’re looking to use. Even better, it’s easy to turn into a full meal with the addition of tofu, chicken, bacon or boiled eggs. Make a big batch; it’ll keep in your fridge for a week.

1 cup beets

1 cup semi-tart, crisp apple

1 cup carrots

1/2 cup each other crunchy vegetables (parsnips, celery, radish, pepper, etc.)

1/2 cup melted bacon fat or olive oil (or a combination of the two)

1/4 cup sushi vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup roasted nuts

1/4 cup chopped or torn soft herbs, such as mint and/or parsley

Salt, to taste

Cut all the vegetables into 1/2 inch cubes.

Steam beets for 5 minutes, adding carrots with 1 minute to go.

Mix vegetables, fat, vinegar and any add-ins, such as tofu.

Add salt to taste.

Garnish with roasted nuts and herbs.

Serves 4 as a side.

— Hal B. Klein, Post-Gazette