What Do You Do with Beets? | Answering Your Home Cooking Questions

Food Friends: Home Cooking Made Easy

In this episode of Food Friends, hosts Sonia and Keri tackle a listener's question about making beets more appealing to families, especially

Key takeaways

• Pre-cooked or pickled beets can help overcome aversion to raw or canned versions.
• Cooking beets in bulk and freezing them saves time and supports meal prep.

Main topics

• Overcoming beet aversion
• Easy preparation and storage methods

Notable quotes

"If you don't like something, shouldn't force yourself to like it."

Conclusion

By sharing practical tips, creative recipes, and personal stories, the

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:01) Welcome to Food Friends, a podcast inspiring home cooks to try new dishes in the kitchen by sharing trusted recipes, tips, Speaker 2 (0:10) and friendship. Hi, I'm Sonia. And I'm Keri. We met in Los Angeles over 15 years ago as personal chefs and haven't stopped talking about food since. We're so glad you're here. Speaker 2 (0:24) Hi, Keri. Speaker 3 (0:25) Hi, Sonia. Well, today we have a listener question from our hotline that is very, very exciting and fun for me. And maybe you're going to feel different. Well, Speaker 2 (0:35) I was very excited to share it with you because I'm wondering the same thing myself. Speaker 3 (0:40) We'll take a listen now. Speaker 2 (0:43) We're Speaker 1 (0:47) from Texas. Also, if it makes you feel that she will, does not. Speaker 3 (1:26) Okay, Amber from Texas. This is my dream question. You can imagine that, Carrie. Speaker 2 (1:31) I wonder the same thing. As a person who's very beet-averse, I had an experience when I was a child, sort of forced to eat canned beets. And we've talked about this on a few of our episodes because you are such a beet lover. You have been eating beets your whole life. You also named your restaurant after beets. Speaker 3 (1:51) Yes, I named my deli Beetroot Market and Deli. I thought about it for a really long time. I actually remember when I came up with the name, it was with our friend Greg Iserson, who sat down with me and we talked about like what was meaningful to me. And the beet really feels like the vegetable of my people. My people come from Ukraine. Beets are really important, partly because they're a great storage vegetable and can last through the winter. They're incredibly nutritious and they're versatile. A few thoughts off the bat. First of all, you know, I believe if you don't like something, shouldn't force yourself to like it. If you want to try and like it, that's great. But if it's not your jam, then don't force yourself. And I actually met someone recently who the same thing you had, Carrie, where they grew up being forced to eat canned beets in Illinois, in rural Illinois, just like you. And now she can't look at a beak. It's not yummy to her. And so my first thing for Amber's, I would say, I hear you on wanting more ease in the kitchen. I would recommend finding pre-cooked beets. They often sell them in the grocery. aisle, you can definitely find them at Trader Joe's, but you can often find them in almost any grocery store. I think those pre-cooked package beets are better than canned beets. I think canned beets just tend to be really flavorless. If you can make them fresh, I'll give you a few tips for that. That's obviously, I think, the best version of a beet. Aside from pre-cooked package and fresh, my other favorite beet that is already pre-made is a pickled beet. I think if you're beet averse, but you want the nutrition of beets, a pickled beet might be your answer. And there's many, many good versions out there. Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:23) And I think one of the things I like about Amber's question too, is that what she's saying is her husband already likes beets. She's cooking for two children, another child coming. She has a big family. As someone who cooks for a lot of families, What helps children learn how to love vegetables is when their parents love vegetables and she's looking for simple ways to do it. I'm hoping that you're going to tell her some of your favorite recipes for beets, right? Speaker 3 (3:46) Yeah, definitely. I can share some ways to use the beets besides in smoothies, which I think is a really smart way to use