Beets are a nutritious root vegetable that are flavorful, nutritious, and vibrant in color. When adding beets to your diet, get adventurous with it! From pickling, to adding to smoothies, or adding to salads, this powerhouse does it all!

A Beet is a Good Source of:

• Fiber—great for liver and digestive health
• Folate—important for red blood cell formation and healthy cell growth
• Manganese—great for healthy bones
• Potassium—helps body tissues and cell function
• Iron—improves muscle and brain function

Did You Know?

• The leaves and root (the beet) are all edible raw or cooked!
• Young or small beets are best raw, while medium and large-sized beets taste better when cooked.
• Red beets can stain your skin! They even use beets to make red food coloring. When peeling beets, wear disposable gloves to avoid staining.
• You can cook and eat beet greens like you would spinach!

How to Harvest and Store Beets

Pull the beets from the ground as soon as 45 days from planting. If you harvest “thinnings” or the beets before they are fully mature, they can be eaten raw and whole! Trim the leaves until they are about 1-inch from the root. The beetroot can be refrigerated for several weeks, while the leaves will only last for a few days. Store the root and leaves separately.

Tips to Get Children to Eat Beets

• Make a beet kabob, including other fruits and veggies, with your kids!
• Add to a smoothie, which will turn it a bright red/pink color!
• Sprinkle roasted beets with cinnamon for a kid-friendly flavor.

Ways to Prepare Beets

• Raw
• Bake
• Sauté
• Steamed
• Pickled
• Microwave
• Juice

• Beet juice is widely used as a “natural” dye to give pink or red coloration to processed foods.

• The color of beet roots can range from dark purple to bright red, yellow, and white. When cut transversely, the roots show light and dark rings, sometimes alternating.

• The Chioggia beet is red and white-striped and nicknamed the “candy cane” beet.

• Beets have the highest sugar content of any vegetable.

• Small beets (about a half-inch in diameter) are good for eating raw. Medium and large-sized beets are best for cooking. Very large beets (more than three inches in diameter) may be too woody for eating.

Beets and beet juice are among the best food sources of nitrate. Beet juice might improve athletic performance because the body converts some of this nitrate to nitric oxide, which expands blood vessels. This blood vessel expansion increases blood flow and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to exercising muscle. The expanded blood vessels also speed up the removal of waste products that cause muscle fatigue.

Does it work?

Many, but not all, studies have found that beet juice can improve performance and endurance in aerobic activities like running, swimming, cycling, and rowing. But whether it helps with strengthening and bodybuilding exercises isn’t known. Beet juice is more likely to improve the performance of recreational exercisers than highly-trained athletes. The usual approach in studies is for participants to drink 2 cups of beet juice about 2.5 to 3 hours before exercise.

Is it safe?

Drinking moderate amounts of beet juice is safe, but it can turn your urine pink or red.

Bottom Line

Beet juice might improve aerobic exercise performance if you’re recreationally active. But whether dietary supplements containing beetroot powder have the same effects as beet juice isn’t known.

As you enjoy fresh produce, follow these safe handling tips to help protect yourself and your family.

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. Your local markets carry a wide variety of nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables. However, harmful bacteria that may be in the soil or water where produce grows can come in contact with fruits and vegetables and contaminate them. Fresh produce may also become contaminated after it is harvested, such as during storage or preparation.

Eating contaminated produce can lead to foodborne illness, often called “food poisoning.” So as you enjoy fresh produce, follow these safe handling tips to help protect you and your family.

Buy Right

You can help keep produce safe by making wise buying decisions.

• Choose produce that is not bruised or damaged.
• When buying pre-cut, bagged or packaged produce — such as half of a watermelon or bagged salad greens — choose only those items that are refrigerated or surrounded by ice.
• Bag fresh fruits and vegetables separately from raw meat, poultry, and seafood when packing them to take home from the market

Store Properly

Proper storage of fresh produce can affect both quality and safety.

• Store perishable fresh fruits and vegetables (like strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and mushrooms) in a clean refrigerator at a temperature of 40° F or below. Use a refrigerator thermometer to check! If you’re not sure whether an item should be refrigerated to keep its quality, ask your grocer.
• Refrigerate all produce that is purchased pre-cut or packaged .

Separate for Safety

Keep fruits and vegetables that will be eaten raw separate from raw meat, poultry, and seafood — and from kitchen utensils used for those products.

• Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with soap and hot water between preparing raw meat, poultry, and seafood and preparing produce that will not be cooked.
• If possible, use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood.
• If you use plastic or other non-porous cutting boards, run them through the dishwasher after use

Prepare Safely

When preparing any fresh produce, begin with clean hands. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after preparation.

• Cut away any damaged or bruised areas on fresh fruits and vegetables before preparing and/or eating. Throw away any produce that looks rotten.
• Wash all produce thoroughly under running water before preparing and/or eating, including produce grown at home or bought from a grocery store or farmers’ market. Washing fruits and vegetables with soap, detergent, or commercial produce wash is not recommended. Produce is porous. Soap and household detergents can be absorbed by fruits and vegetables, despite thorough rinsing, and can make you sick. Also, the safety of the residues of commercial produce washes is not known and their effectiveness has not been tested.
• Even if you do not plan to eat the skin, it is still important to wash produce first so dirt and bacteria are not transferred from the surface when peeling or cutting produce.
• Scrub firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush.
• After washing, dry produce with a clean cloth towel or paper towel to further reduce bacteria that may be present on the surface

What About Pre-Washed Produce?

Many pre-cut, bagged, or packaged produce items are pre-washed and ready-to-eat. If so, it will be stated on the packaging, and you can use the produce without further washing.

If you choose to wash produce marked as “pre-washed” or “ready-to-eat,” be sure that it does not come in contact with unclean surfaces or utensils. This will help to avoid cross contamination.

About Foodborne Illness

Know the Symptoms

Consuming dangerous foodborne bacteria will usually cause illness within 1 to 3 days of eating the contaminated food. However, sickness can also occur within 20 minutes or up to 6 weeks later. Although most people will recover from a foodborne illness within a short period of time, some can develop chronic, severe, or even life-threatening health problems.

Foodborne illness can sometimes be confused with other illnesses that have similar symptoms. The symptoms of foodborne illness can include:

• Vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain
• Flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, and body ache

Take Action

If you think that you or a family member has a foodborne illness, contact your healthcare provider immediately.