Freezing Beets

I'm an avid canner and preserver of food.  Surprisingly, few people know how to preserve beets.  I like the taste and simplicity of freezing beets.

I remove the beet leaves (jut rip them off, you want some of them attached - maybe about an inch or so- to keep them from bleeding too much color out the top).  Put beets in a big saucepan with the largest beets at the bottom and the smallest at the top. Cover with water.   Boil them until cooked through (time depends on the size of the beets, start at 20 minutes, and for larges ones it could be about an hour).  When the smaller beets on the top are done (aka - a knife will go through it easily), take them out.  Remove them as they cook, and keep the larger ones cooking longer.  Let them cool (sometimes I'll put them in the fridge overnight).

When the beets are cooked, and cool, cut off the beet top and root.

Remove the outer skin.  It should come of easily with a little rubbing.  

Cut beets into desired size/shape.  I usually cut them into circles, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, but today I tried to cut some into wedges.  

Try my bagging trick. . . I turn the closure of the bag inside out.  This makes it so the bag will stay opened (making it easier to put stuff in), and also keeps the closure from getting all "gunked up".  I will do several bags at once, so I can fill them easily.

Put beets into the baggies.  I use cheep sandwich baggies, and then when bags are filled to my satisfaction, I put all the smaller bags into a larger gallon size freezer bag.  I reuse my more freezer bags as they are more expensive.  Double bagging keeps the freezer bag clean. :)

Place the bags flat in the freezer (you can move them later if you'd like, but it you freeze them flat, they are a better shape for moving and stacking later, or even turning on it's side).  

When you are ready to eat beets, simply let them defrost, and cook.  I like to sauté them in butter, with a little garlic or feta cheese.   

What does this have to do with resiliency?  Glad you asked. . .  When the resiliency center is fully running, clients will teach others skills that they have.  Doing hard things helps to build resiliency.  Sharing skills in front of a group is often difficult, so this is one way to give people a chance to build resiliency.  

Enjoy your harvest :)