Red Beets — Fresh Bunch, With or Without Tops (Certified Naturally Grown)

$5.00 · 4–6 beets per bunch · With or without tops · Harvested this week

Slice one open and the color gets you first. A deep, almost unreal red that stains the cutting board, stains your fingers, and makes a plain plate look like someone cared. Then you taste it. Dense, earthy, sweet all the way through, with a little minerality underneath. It's the flavor a canned beet never had a chance to keep.

Roast them whole in foil until a knife slides in, then let the skins slip right off. Slice them over greens with Yoder goat cheese and walnuts. Pickle a jar and forget about it in the fridge for a week. A beet is one of the easiest ways to make dinner feel like you tried.

Choose With Tops and the greens come along too, trimmed of anything tired. They cook like chard: tender, slightly bitter, and good in a hot pan with garlic and olive oil in five minutes. One bunch, two sides. Choose Without Tops and you get the beets only, ready for the oven.

Good for: roasting whole, slicing into salads with goat cheese and walnuts, pickling, a simple side with butter and salt, sautéing the greens as a quick second dish when you choose With Tops.

If your bunch has tops, remove the greens when you get home and store them separately. They pull moisture from the root if left on. Roast beets with an inch of stem on to hold the color and moisture in. Both keep well in the fridge for the week.