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Valley Bounty: Beets

I, by no means, keep a strictly clean diet, especially at this time of year; something about the holidays seems to raise our collective threshold for baked goods and sweets it seems reasonable for an adult to consume in a given day. And honestly, I think that’s fine! There’s no need to be so puritanical about your diet that you feel compelled to turn your nose up at fresh-baked cookies. But since I do find that eating that way too consistently for too long takes a toll on my energy and my mood, I try to stave off the holiday hangover by balancing the indulgences with a hearty helping of something nutritious, and beets are close to the top of that this list time of year.

Beets are good sources of folate, manganese, and antioxidants, and some studies have suggested beets and can help support healthy liver function. I eat raw beets in salad fairly often; usually, I shred them with a cheese grater to make the texture a little more to my liking. I have a friend who uses beets in place of chickpeas in his hummus recipe, and the resulting purple creation is slightly sweeter and definitely more attention grabbing than the hummus I’m used to.

Valley Bounty is written by Brian Snell of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)