Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: Snoop on September 06, 2014, 10:54
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Over the last few weeks, I've had some help with watering from loads of kids. As a result, lots of my toms and beetroots are splitting due to irregular watering. I know how to handle the toms, but this is my first year growing beetroot and I have no idea what I ought to do with them. So any advice would be gratefully received.
The beetroot I've picked are of different sizes. Some of them are quite badly split horizontally and some have small nicks in the skin. The nicks don't really look like teeth marks but may be caused by a shrew which I've seen lurking under the beetroot leaves on a few occasions.
In the past, I've cooked beetroot in a pressure cooker. I can't roast/bake them at this time of year.
Can I use the split ones? Or should I chuck them out? What about the nicked ones?
Can I cut them all up so that the pieces are roughly the same size when they go in the pressure cooker? If I can do that, I'm guessing I can remove the split edges and the nicks.
Thanks for any help.
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I would scrub them ,peel & roast with oil & balsamic,salt & pepper. If you boil them they will bleed.
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I would scrub them ,peel & roast with oil & balsamic,salt & pepper. If you boil them they will bleed.
Thanks snowdrops, but roasting is out of the question for me at this time of year. My oven is a woodburning stove and the kitchen would get unbearably hot.
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Beetroot that has bled a bit while cooking is better than no beetroot !
Cook as whole as possible and trim and tidy afterwards.
A!so shrews are insect eaters and unlikely to chomp your veg ! :)
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You could use the damaged beetroot in chutney because you dice it raw, so you can dispose of the bits you don't want. Beetroot and orange chutney is particularly tasty in my view. :)
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Thanks 8doubles and Fairy Plotmother. Will scrub and pressure cook as per normal then and ponder on the possibility of chutney.
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Usually start with raw beetroot for chutney snoop.
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Have been looking about on the web and have found an intriguing recipe for beetroot and wild rice risotto. The liquid from cooking the beetroot seems to be used as part of the stock, so I guess if they bleed a lot, the colour will go into the risotto anyway.
And sorry, Fairy Plotmother, I wasn't in the least bit clear. I will think about making chutney with some of my other beetroot still in the ground but also split. And yes, I'll use it raw. Thanks.
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Many of our beetroot have split, but we boil them in a slow cooker for a few hours, and just hoik off all the odd bits etc when they come out.
Any bits that look suspicious go to the dog, and any spare slices go in the pickling jar.
Seems to work OK, as this year is a great year for these chaps!
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You're right there Growster. We have far too many...the neighbours are hiding!!!!!!! :D
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We just cut away the damaged parts. This year the whole of the top of the roots has been eaten by slugs - never had that happen before.
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You're right there Growster. We have far too many...the neighbours are hiding!!!!!!! :D
They do that don't they, Fairers!
Cucumbers are verboten round here now..;0)
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You could peel and cube them raw and freeze to add to soup and stews in the winter. I'm growing white beetroot this year to stop the staining effect very productive and good flavour.