What does beetroot taste like?

Beetroot is a scary food for many people because this root vegetable is rumored to taste earthy. This is a completely unfair characterization that this article aims to correct.

What does beetroot taste like? When beets are properly washed and prepared, they have an earthy, almost flowery flavor with a hint of sweetness. Depending on the variety and preparation of the beetroot, that sweetness can be more pronounced.

Raw, roasted, pickled and canned beets all have different flavors and in this article we will do our best to describe them all and give you tips on how to cook and prepare them.

What does beetroot taste like?

Did you know that a large part of the refined white sugar you eat is made from beets? It is true!

It is true that beets are not the same as the red or purple beets that we are used to buying to cook with dinner, but they are in the same family.

Beets aren’t as sweet as sugar beets, but they do have a remarkably high sugar content that comes off really well if you know how to prepare the beets right.

Many people are terrified of beets, determined to believe that they taste like earth. And, to be fair, they can taste a bit earthy, especially if you’re not used to them.

They are a root vegetable and the soil clings to them. If they’re not washed and cooked properly, your beets can have a dull, earthy flavor that borders on mud.

But this is when the beetroot is done poorly.

A properly prepared beetroot is sweet, with a hint of almost floral flavor and a juicy, undeniably purple crunch.

If you like spinach and mushrooms, you are more likely to enjoy the taste of beets as well. If you’re very sensitive to the smell in the air after a storm, you’re less likely to enjoy beets.

A compound called geosmin is responsible for the earthy taste of spinach, mushrooms, and beets, and it’s also what creates the smell after a storm.

Some people are more sensitive to this aroma and flavor than others, and this could influence your preference for beets or against them.

What does golden beet taste like?

Golden beets taste pretty much the same as traditional purple beets. If you notice a difference in taste, it’s probably in your head, and that wouldn’t necessarily be unusual.

We enjoy food with our eyes and nose almost as much as our taste buds.

Most of us have a preconceived idea of what certain foods taste like, and our brain, a powerful organ that it is, will influence our tastes to give us what we believe to be true.

The lighter the color of the food, the lighter its flavor. Of course, this is not always true, certainly not in the case of onions or garlic.

A golden yellow beet may be slightly less earthy and marginally sweeter, but generally tastes the same as a purple beet.

What does canned beetroot taste like?

Canned beets are much sweeter and milder than their fresh counterparts. The crunch is toned down and somehow that seems to affect the flavor of the beets.

Canned beets have a much milder flavor and are less likely to retain the “earthy” flavor many associate with them.

Beets are often canned at home, and that process may include salt or sugar. So the end result can be sweeter or more flavorful, depending on the canner’s preferences.

What does pickled beets taste like?

Pickled beets, depending on how they are pickled, have a very sweet and sour profile.

The pickling process can be done with added sugar. In this case, the sweetness of the beetroot will be the defining flavor, with just a hint of fermented sourness.

However, beets can also be picked with dill and garlic, similar to the ever-popular dill pickle. It will still be sweet, but the predominant flavor will be that of dill and garlic.

Many people also enjoy pickling their beets with hot peppers or peppercorns.

The hot, spicy, sweet and sour combination is almost confusing to the taste buds, but it makes an incredible addition to tacos or Mexican food when finely diced and used as a garnish.

How to cook beets

Cooking beets can be a pain if you’re not sure what you’re doing. Beetroot stains hands, wood, clothing, and just about anything it comes in contact with. So be careful not to stain your kitchen with the raw juice.

There’s a secret to saving yourself from this frustrating hassle:  Wash the beets well, then cook them with the skin on.

Once cooked, they will leave some color behind, but they won’t stain as quickly or as permanently as raw beet juice. Also, the skin will flake off effortlessly, taking much of the cloudy, woody flavor with it.

If you peel beets before cooking, the flavor of the earth will remain in the beets and permeate into the water, flavoring your beets.

If you leave the skin on, the flavor of the soil will wash into the skin and into the water, but the flesh of your beets will be protected against it, rather than soaked in it.

The only time you’ll want to peel raw beets is if you’re going to eat them raw. Even then, blanching them for 2-3 minutes in boiling water and then immersing them in an ice bath will make the process much quicker, easier, and less messy.

There are many different ways to cook beets. For us, the easiest thing is to boil them first until they are half cooked, and then peel them and prepare them for the final dish.

Once peeled, they can be steamed whole, sliced, fried, roasted, or pureed and cooked into a soup. Beets are very versatile and their flavor will change depending on how they are prepared.

How to make beets taste better

We hope we convinced you to try beets for the first time or give them a second chance. But now you are probably wondering, apart from cooking them with their skin, how to make beets tasteless of earth?

To bring out the natural sugars in beets, you need to expose them to heat. Roasting or frying it will caramelize the sugars and soften the texture, while bringing out the rich earthiness of the root.

If you want to enhance the floral notes of the beetroot, steaming it will give it a richer flavor and a satisfying crunch.

If you mix the beets with high-quality olive oil and add a bit of dill or other aromatic herbs like rosemary, all the flavors will come together well. This combination is just as good served hot or cold.

Pureeing the beetroot and cooking it in a rich broth, finishing with heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk, will give it a more delicate and rather sweet flavor, though tempered by the cream.

If your beets are older, they may develop a bitter taste. To counteract this, you can marinate them in something slightly acidic, simmer them in a red wine sauce, or douse them in a rich savory garlic sauce.

Related questions

What does beetroot look like?

Beets are root vegetables, so they consist of a stout, round root and a tall mass of green leaves.

The root grows underground and the leaves, of course, grow above it. The root itself is purple in color, although the hues range from red to pink. The older the beets get, the darker they get to almost black.

A good-sized beet, ready to harvest, will be about the size of a tennis ball, but can grow larger, depending on the variety and how long it is left in the ground. If beets are grown too crowded together, they may not even grow as big.

Its green top usually has a bright purple stem. The green leaves of the beetroot are quite similar to those of chard, although with a thin stem.

How should you eat beet greens?

Beet greens are packed with flavor and nutrition, and can be eaten in the same ways as any other type of dark green leaf.

You can swap the beet greens for spinach, chard, kale, or bok choy in any recipe, cooked or raw.

Our favorite way to eat beet greens is to very lightly sauté them with a little olive oil, freshly pressed garlic, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

What is the healthiest way to eat beets?

Almost all vegetables and fruits lose some nutrition when exposed to heat. Beetroot is no exception to this rule. To preserve as much nutritional value as possible, it’s better to steam beets than boil or roast them.

When boiled, the vitamins and minerals are impregnated in the water. When roasting they break down due to prolonged exposure to high temperatures.

Steaming for about 15 minutes will cook the beets with the least damage to the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

With that being said, the healthiest way to eat beets is whatever way you eat them. If you hate steamed beets but enjoy roasting them, eating roasted beets will be much healthier than not eating them at all.