Beet tops has no less useful composition than its root crops. You can often find delicious recipes, one of the ingredients of which are beetroot leaves. How to properly prepare this product for the winter at home by salting, pickling, drying and freezing - read below.
Selection and preparation of ingredients
For harvesting, you should choose young beets with tops. Leaves should be fresh, juicy, bright green. You should choose those that hold their shape well. Before preparing the leaves, they should be separated from the root crop with the petioles, rinsed well under running water and pour freshly boiled boiling water.
Did you know? People began to grow beets in the second millennium BC. e. Initially, root crops were used exclusively for medicinal purposes, and only the tops were eaten.
Beetroot harvest recipes
To be able to eat healthy beetroot leaves throughout the winter and replenish your body with vitamins, minerals and fiber, they can be salted, pickled, dried or frozen.
The leaves are added to salads, put on sandwiches, used in the preparation of the first dishes: borsch, beetroot soup, botvini, and other vegetable soups. They give the dishes a piquant taste. Pickled tops are eaten as an independent snack. Salty - served with meat and fish.
Salt beet leaves
1 l 30–40 minutes
blackcurrant leaves
2-3 pcs.
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Wash and cut leaves with stalks into large pieces.
- Finely chop the garlic.
- In a wide container, lay the cut foliage in layers, covering each layer with currant leaves, dill umbrellas, garlic and pouring salt.
- Cover with a cloth.
- Place oppression on top.
- Leave for 3 days for salting at room conditions.
- Put in a liter jar, tamping well.
- Close with a nylon or metal cover.
Did you know? The largest beets were grown in 1974 in California. Her weight was 20.63 kg.
Pickling tops
1.5 L1–1.5 hours
hot red pepper
1 pod
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Cut the tops into pieces.
- Chop the garlic and onion.
- Stack in jars.
- Cook the marinade by placing salt, sugar, herbs and spices in boiling water and boiling for 2-3 minutes.
- After removing from the stove add vinegar.
- Pour marinade into jars.
- Cover with lids.
- Sterilize the cans for 10 minutes.
- Close tight with metal covers.
Beet Tops: Drying
2 days
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Cut the top of the tops without stalks into long thin strips. Spread in one layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to a temperature of + 50 ° C. Place a baking sheet in the oven.
- Do not cover the door tightly.
- Stir periodically.
- After drying, move to a horizontal surface in a well-ventilated dark room until completely dry.
Video recipe
Important! You can dry the tops faster in a special dryer at a temperature of + 40 ° C.
Beet tops: freezing
30 minutes
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Cut the lower part of the tops with petioles into thin long strips.
- Place in ordinary plastic or vacuum bags in portions for cooking one dish.
- Let out air.
- Put in the freezer.
Video recipe
Features of storage of blanks
Salted and pickled foods should be stored in sealed containers in the refrigerator. You need to use them for 2-3 weeks. Pickled snacks that have undergone sterilization and preservation can be stored at a temperature of 0 ... + 20 ° C in a dark place, away from heat sources.
Dried tops can be stored in a glass closed lid of the container, in cloth bags, in cardboard boxes in a place where there is no increased humidity and where the sun's rays do not penetrate, and a cool temperature is also maintained. The shelf life of the dry product is up to 2 years. Frozen leaflets can be stored and consumed for one year.
Important! Thawed foods must not be re-frozen. They must be consumed or used to prepare meals on the same day.
Before cooking with heat treatment, you do not need to defrost them. So, from beet tops you get tasty and healthy preparations for the winter, prepared in different ways. Harvesting tops is very simple and fast. But it is important to adhere to the dosages indicated in the recipes and store the products correctly.
