Beats Canned

If you ask me what kind of foods I like, the answer is easier to handle if I just list the two things I consistently don't like. It used to be three: I didn't like rice growing up--so bland and chore-like to eat--but that's before I met real rice, prepared the way it's supposed to be prepared in Taiwan. (It's supposed to end up kind of sticky, and clumps together so you can grab it with your chopsticks.)

But today, I can only say that I don't care for 1.) hominy, and 2.) beets. And now, I have to amend that second one.


This is not grape juice:






Walking to Sun Harvest three or four days ago, we encountered and bought raw beets, with their greens, and have been experimenting with new additions to salads, etc. The greens are great! With a very good stout flavor, and a noticeable earthiness, they are a worthy backbone for a spinach, olive, Parmesan, oil and vinegar salad. The root part is decently edible too, unlike their canned or pickled counterpart.

Today I took the rest of one of the roots I had grated, and some "soup" I had boiled and chilled from beet and spinach stems and blended it up with some carrots, half of a tomato, spinach leaves, apple juice, and ice to create naturally sweet, earthy, but light-feeling drink. It really goes down well, and leaves no aftertaste. It contains quite a bit of insoluble matter which you may want to strain out, but I enjoy.