"Beets have an earthy, hard-to-define flavor like no other vegetableÂs"

Yeah, translated that means they taste like dirt, or maybe they taste like earthworms smell. LOL.

All a matter of perspective, Calliope.

"It's not dirt...but it's not bad."

- the Earthworm, after sampling the peach in James and the Giant Peach

I am one who likes beets, so perhaps I am an earthworm?

I don't think so, Lilod. I think that means you are descended from someone who thrived on a diet dominated by root vegetables, probably before potatoes were available.

I have a theory about beets in Slavic lands: somebody left behind a pot of them somewhere in the barn late in the summer, they got rained upon in the fall, and by the time the hungry husband of the family found it in late February, it had turned to kvass (beet beer). The wife of the family found him drunk asleep next to the pot, sniffed, and thought: echh, stupid man; but I'll add this liquid to the soup and see what happens. This resulted in the birth of beet borscht.

Nothing wrong with either beets or kvass and borscht.

There is an old saying, and I've had it recited to me on days of meat abstinence when I'd fudge a little bit and pick it out out of soup then eat the soup. You may as well eat of the devil, as drink of his broth. LOL. Well, I do like borsch, and I really fancy eggs pickled in beet juice. I have even grown beets in my garden. I have given them the girl scout try, I guess. I'm also ok with all the other root crops.......parsnips and swedes for example. Just not beets. sigh.

Another beet lover here. Those in eastern France must have got caught up in the root craze too.
my grandmother loved beets,turnips and parsnips. Pickled beets are to die for.lol

I like beets, but then I like pretty much everything.
The only reason I stay away from them in restaurants is
that I usually end up wearing at least a small portion of
my food and beets are really colorful.

It's odd that I've never had them roasted, I'm willing to
try them cooked that way, I just have to find some beets.
By the way, I love spinach.

As a child I ate beets and still buy them from time to time. I also like spinach, but not turnip greens.

I like to dice pickled beets and add with the juices to borscht...there's a pretty good bottled variety of borscht. ...So I combine them, add a few preboiled new potatoes, onions and celery, stew for awhile and doctor with added vinegar if needed, lots of black pepper. Dollop with sour cream or yogurt. Don't fix often but at least a couple of times in winter. I like it served hot or cold with Rye bread and roasted pork spareribs.

This is my own weird concoction adapted after I'd had the NYC deli versions...josh

I had borscht for the first time when I visited DD#2 in wester ND a few years ago. It is wonderful and I have made it several times since then. The beets in my new garden are coming along well and DS and I can hardly wait until they are ready. DH doesn't care for beets or sweet corn - that leaves more for us. Gandle, what is kvass? How do you make it? Southerners and others, what are some good greens recipes?

I will tell you one that I learned forty years ago, from a Southern chef who was appalled that I had never eaten collards. (I've deleted her accent.)

You get 3 or 4 *big* handfuls of the freshest collard leaves you can find. If they're limp like a tired man, they're not fresh. Dump the leaves in a dishpan full of cold water and sorta swish them around and then dump out the water; do that twice more or until there's no grit in the water. Then, remove one leaf at a time and (if it's big) fold it in half and slice out the stem. Tiny tender stems can stay. When a small handful of leaves are de-stemmed, lay them in a pile and chop into 1" pieces, repeat until all the leaves have been chopped. Have a big pot of boiling water ready, and put the chopped pieces in it. When it comes to a boil again, dump out the water. Refill the pot and let that come to a boil. Dump the water. In a chicken skillet (14" high side frypan), crisp up a cup full of fatback cubes (½"). When those are golden brown, remove and set aside. Saute a couple large onions [chopped] in the grease. When the onions are translucent, add the drained chopped greens and stir thoroughly. Add the fatback back in. Pour in one cup of salted chicken stock and several shakes of coarse-ground black pepper. Put a lid on and let it simmer for a couple hours.

I suspect a lot of vitamins are lost in the dumped water, but the leaves don't taste bitter. Fatback isn't available everywhere, but you can make do with very thickly sliced, very fatty bacon.

1. Leave a couple of pieces of rye or pumpernickel bread, made with no preservatives, out to dry overnight.

2. Bring a quart of water to a vigorous boil and let cool to lukewarm.

3. Take one wide-mouthed, lidded pottery container -- a soup tureen works well -- and place one piece of bread at bottom.

4. Prepare a few bunches of raw beets this way: slice off tops and roots, peel off skin with a vegetable peeler, and slice thinly. Do not shred.

5. Place half of sliced beets on top of bread in your container. Place second slice of bread on top of beets, and then add remaining slices of beet. Carefully pour lukewarm sterilized water in until everything is covered.

6. Put lid on and place container in a cool, dark place (do not refrigerate). After three days, check container: scoop off any moldy or dusty-looking patches, and remove bread if it's floated to the top. Taste liquid. If it's not sweet-sour and richly flavored, replace lid and check after another three days.

Finished kvass can take three days to three weeks depending on the beets and the weather. It should be only mildly alcoholic if you're planning on adding it to borscht, and the borscht must not boil after you've added it. You can also keep fermenting kvass it until it's beer-strength. It should be thick and opaque, and will keep, refrigerated, for a week.