Two lessons for the 'price' of one today.

1. Yes, the wily world of vegetables includes creamy white beets in addition to beet-red, pale pink and golden beets.
   
2. Yes, beets can be cooked in the microwave!

#1 is a mere novelty but #2 is decidedly useful since cooking beets in the oven takes 60 - 90 minutes.

But in the microwave, cooking beets takes just 20 - 30 minutes, completely unattended except for turning. What a time-saver, what an energy-saver. (Does that, um, make these white beets, ummmm, 'green'?)

These beets were delicious, sliced hot from the microwave and topped with a pinprick of butter and a few fresh chives. I may never roast beets in the oven again.

And the technique is especially convenient when cooking for one or two. Need to cook just one beet or two beets? No problem.

The microwave technique is entirely inspired by Adapted from Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka. The book's arrangement is annoying -- it's not A-Z -- but I overlook that point because the content is so entirely thorough. This microwave technique, for example, is buried in the back. Well, forget that, on A Veggie Venture, microwave beets are going front and center where we can all use it! I've created a new collection of vegetable recipes for the microwave. This time of year, cooking an ear or two of fresh corn in the microwave is just so convenient!

NEXT TIME I will turn the beets themselves (versus turning the container) partway through the cooking time. Re-reading the instructions, that's likely what was meant but I missed it.

SO WHAT ABOUT THE WHITE BEETS? Let's see. They taste like, um, well, beets! They have the texture of, um, well, beets! One source says red beets have the most sugar, the white ones the least; I didn't find a nutrition source to quantify that. It's a little disarming, the white color, a sort of culinary dissonance. It would be great to use white beets in a recipe where the white color could really show off, maybe paired with Brussels sprouts.

WORD TO THE WISE Once cooked, white beets need to be eaten right away, otherwise they turn an unappealing muddy gray color. The taste is fine but the looks leave much to be desired. This is very different from red beets, which I often roast in big batches, then use one or two at a time for a week.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES See the Recipe Box for all the microwave vegetable recipes (how about a quick lunch of zucchini with tomatoes & cheddar?) and all the beet recipes (how about beet pesto? or beet roesti? or a supper salad with roasted beets?).

A YEAR AGO THIS WEEK Something else that's red


HOW MANY CALORIES, CARBS & WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS IN BEETS
Nutrition Information Per 1/4 pound of raw beet: Per Serving: 49 Cal (3% from Fat, 14% from Protein, 83% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 11 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb8; 8 g Sugar; 18 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 88 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 0 points

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Food Recipes Cooking Vegetables Vegetable Recipes Weight Watchers Recipes Beet Recipes Easy Vegetables