The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish admittedly is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious. ? Tom Robbins in “Jitterbug Perfume”
I love beets because my grandmother Rose, an Iowa farm girl, made fresh Harvard beets zested with orange, lip-puckering pickled beets and beets steamed tender with melted butter on top. I never suffered a canned beet until I was in my 20s.
I hunger for new beets, so when Andy Ayers of Riddle’s Penultimate Café and Wine Bar in University City said, “I know a great beet farmer,” I was ready to write. But most don’t take the route this beet farmer, Bob Lober, traveled. “Farming is a second career for me,” he said. About 10 years ago, in his mid-40s, he left his job as manager of network operations for Mallinckrodt. “Cold turkey,” he said. “Corporate America was killing me.”
Now, he gardens commercially in Moscow Mills on land he named St. Isidore’s Farm. Lober isn’t some retrograde hippie, but the father of 12 children and a husband who, he acknowledged, was “gone too much” during his 17-year corporate career. He wanted more time with his wife and children with work that he enjoyed.
Beets are one of four cash crops Lober cultivates. He is a professional; before planting, he meets with the chefs who buy his produce. For Ayers he grows golden beets in a large size. Another chef prefers red baby beets. He grows Red Ace and Lutz Green Leaf red beets and the red-and-white-striped Italian heirloom beet Chiogga.
Each variety has its peculiarities. Golden seed has a germination rate of 60 to 70 percent, compared to the nearly 100 percent germination rate of the Red Ace seed. Red Ace is planted early and likes the cold, but goldens need warmer temperatures to germinate. Lutz is a variety that is grown into the late fall.
“Good food starts with the soil,” Lober said. “Sometimes, I pull a beet, wash it and eat it raw to taste how my soil is doing.” He employs a soil consultant who understands small-farm practices and organic growing. Adding compost to the garden regularly, he and his sons till, rake and turn the garden. The girls help him start seeds in the basement under lights and assist with transplanting delicate seedlings.
“If you don’t work, you don’t eat in this family,” Lober said. I wondered if that wasn’t a bit harsh for the 4-year-old, but Lober said, “Four-year-olds love to run. Run for the hoe. Run a message to the house.”
Lober does most of the direct seeding, usually with an EarthWay seeder. Using a standard paint roller on an extension, he tamps newly sown seeds into the soil. “I got that idea from Eliot Coleman,” he explains. Coleman, who enjoys near-mythic status with organic farmers, is the author of several books and is a successful commercial gardener.
Lober sows succession plantings every two weeks from March to June. The family gang-weeds the 100-foot rows of beets in teams of five. Then they mulch to control weeds and to retain moisture. Lober harvests beets at different stages, baby beets to full-grown ones, which eliminates the need to thin.
Lober admitted it’s not an easy life. Still, he said, “Even when it’s cold, it’s raining and I’m up to my knees in mud, it’s better than any day I ever spent at the office.” He and his wife pray about their life, sometimes to St. Isidore of Madrid, a farmer.
By coincidence, there is another St. Isidore. A bishop in Seville and a learned man, he wrote the Etymologies, a 7th-century compendium of all the learning possessed at that time. He is the patron saint of the Internet and of those who work with computers.
Buying beets: * Choose beets with green, healthy tops and no yellowing; deep, even color in the beetroot; a firm, globular shape; and smooth, unblemished skin with no punctures.
* Avoid beets that have wet spots or bruises; have deep, gouged rings around the neck of the beet (they have been in the ground too long and might be tough); are shriveled; or have a flabby feel.
Storage and preparation: * Beets cooked closest to harvest are sweeter and less tough than stored beets, but fresh beets will keep well with proper storage.
* To store beets, don’t wash them before you store them. Cut off the greens and leave 2 inches of stem attached to the beets. Store the beet greens in a plastic bag for up to four days in the crisper. Beets in a paper bag or a ventilated plastic bag are best used within one week but will keep for two to four weeks in the crisper.
* If you cut or peel beets before cooking, the color and flavors bleed. Watch what they touch, as red and Chiogga beets stain clothes, counters and skin. Wear kitchen gloves or keep a cut lemon ready for cleaning your hands.
* Consider cutting the beets after cooking, when skins slip off very easily. To prepare beets with this method, leave the roots on, leave the stems attached and handle the beets gently. Run the beets under cold water and rub lightly with your fingers or a soft vegetable brush to remove dirt from the roots and balls.
* Acidic ingredients, such as vinegar and lemon juice, will heighten the ruby-red color of beets. That’s why Harvard beets look like jewels. Alkalis like baking soda will turn beets purple, so if you are making a chocolate cake with beets as the secret ingredient, the color will be less startling. If salt is added during cooking, the color of beets will dull, so you might want to salt them after cooking.
This article appears in May 1-31, 2006.