The beetroot has been growing quite happily in a shady strip at the back of the plot this year, and to be honest we’ve probably not paid it the attention it’s due. Hidden behind the carrots it’s been largely ignored, so what we would find as we went to dig it up this afternoon we didn’t really know.
It would have served us right if it had been entirely slug-eaten and unsuitable for human consumption, but as we pulled back some of the leaves and forked out the first bulb we found enormous potato-like roots sitting half out of the soil.
In all there were 18 good beets at the back of the plot there, tipping the scales at 2.85 kilos. That’s very impressive – particularly as this year we grew them from seeds that we put straight into a drill in the ground. Last year we bought shoots, started them off in pots and then transferred the best specimens to the plot – much more faff for not nearly such impressive results. I don’t think we’ll be doing that again.
All we need do now is clean them up, boil and slice them, and freeze them for Christmas. We could pickle them, as we did with four jars of beets last year, but that’s not to everyone’s taste. Boiling and freezing keeps them just as well, and preserves the sweet, earthy taste, too.
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I find that even slug half eaten beetroot is actually perfectly fine for human consumption.. the beetroot seems to have the ability to “heal” around the areas where it has been nibbled at, all you need to do is cut out the nibbled bits with a knife and you’re good to go. Especially fine if you stew them up in a delicious beetroot chutney!
Actually, looking at these roots there are a few holes where the slugs have burrowed their way in for a quick spot of lunch, but by no means to any great extent. Where they have done, as you say, it’s healed over nicely and won’t put us off eating them. Not sure about the chutney, though. We have made loads of that this year and are still eating last year’s jars. Perhaps a beetroot cake…
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