Preserving Food ~ Freezing Golden Beets

I don't like 'red' beets. I think they taste too metallic for me. But a couple years ago at the farm they gave me some white beets... and I fell in love. Since then I have branched out to many kinds of beets... just not the red ones. These golden beets are sweet and yummy, but not overly sugary like the Chioggia or the Sugar Beets can be. They have a perfect level of sweetness for things like stir fry and fried rice. This is what we use them for all winter.

The process for beets is very similar to the process for beans. You cut off the tops and bottoms, and then cut into 1/2 inch chunks.

Then blanch them... actually, you almost cook them with how long you have to blanch beets. You want them almost tender when you freeze them so when you put them in a stir fry or drop them into veggies for fried rice they cook evenly with everything else. This takes almost 10 minutes.

When I am freezing them in a roasted root veggie mix I boil them much less.

These beets are SO beautiful!

After blanching, drop into very cold water or an ice bath to stop the cooking quickly. Then use a colander (or a salad spinner) and get as much of the water off as possible.

Put them into bags in one layer so they freeze evenly. This means that not much goes into a gallon Ziploc, so sometimes I combine bags after they are completely frozen. That is a good way to save bags.

Update on me: Getting a cold. I knew this would happen. But at least the food that had been waiting for me is now done. None will rot if I take it easy today. :) That's what I was waiting for.