Cooked Beetroot is awesome - and a little scary.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         They have this incredible earthiness about them, and when pulled straight from the garden, carry important soil-born good bacteria - if you could only smell this batch of slowly cooked beets, simmered for 1.5 hrs in filtered water, vinegar, herbs and coconut sugar. I'm going to peel and slice them - just cut the top and tail and gently squeeze the outer layer off, like a soft onion peel. Then slice and dice for bottling using the cooking water and extra vinegar until the tops are totally covered. Iv'e ended up with a small bottle (thanks Maccona coffee) of diced beetroot to add to salads etc and a large jar with bigger chunks, suitable to roast or cut down smaller.
   

                                                                                                                                                                                                             When you grow your own f/veg, you often have more than you can eat at once, so bottling is a quick an easy way to stretch your crop out while you wait for the next crop to grow. If you don't grow your own, try buying a bunch from your organic grocer and make your own batch of nutritious and delicious beetroot or just throw them on a baking tray with some pumpkin, olive oil and balsamic for an hour for an earthy and richly flavored roasted experience. Red and orange colored vegetables have high levels of nutrients and antioxidents, vital for good health, and a sure fire way to help heal the gut.                         

                                                                                     
One of the easier root vegetables to grow, they don't require loads of space so you could easily grow them in a raised bed or pot as they have few pest and diseases. It's easy to grow them organically, by using organic mulches like sugar cane and improving  the soil with cow and chook manures, blood n bone, potash from a fireplace etc and by fertilizing with natural manure pellets and fish emulsions. Don't forget to use the liquid seaweeds to improve soil bacteria and general health of the plant as well.

So why is it a little scary ? well, when you eat a lot of beetroot in one sitting, it's amazing red colour, well - shows up in the toilet! No, your not bleeding internally - it's just the beetroot :) only, my husband didn't put 2 and 2 together and thought he had a serious problem! ha ha - you should have seem his face when he told me -I just looked at him and smiled with a little shake of the head and gently reminded him of the roasted whole beets we ate. Poor him, he was so relieved, and I'm pretty sure it will become a little family joke.