Beets Resprouting
It’s amazing. After a long winter of storage these beets are bursting with life. As a kid, I remember taking potatoes with toothpicks and sitting them in a glass of water to sprout. Sounds lame when you compare that to surfing the web for half pipes in San Diego or looking for used laboratory equipment for your next science project on eBay.
I can’t find anything about eating or preparing resprouting beets, or other vegetables for that matter, but I have to guess that they’re at the market for a reason. Does anyone know how to prepare resprouting veggies?
Great shot!
When it comes to cooking I defer to my wife’s expertise. Her suggestion is to boil the beets, then peel them. Evidently for some veggies, such as potatoes, the skin can become toxic when they begin to re-sprout.
But whether you eat them or not, I love the shot!
Your wife is right! I looked it up. Apparently, when potatoes are exposed to light their natural protection against predators, Glycoalkaloids, increase and may cause headaches, diarrhea, cramps and in severe cases coma and death if you eat them.
So, “toxic” was the magic search word and it turns out that beet leaves may contain toxic levels of soluble oxalates and can cause muscle weakness in humans and a few nasty problems for horses. But what about the beets themselves? There was no mention of sprouting beets. So, I’m going to assume that the farmer selling these beets knows they are perfectly safe to eat (I hope!). However, I’m cutting off those sprouts.
Perfect. Love the contrast and the composition.