It’s time for Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze. For the first time ever, we’re pulling large, lovely beets out of the garden. I’ve never worried about how to preserve beets because our crop was always staggered and meager. We were able to eat the harvest without any effort. I do have a glut of them this year, but I don’t really like pickled, spiced beets, which I could can in jars in a water bath canner. I don’t have a pressure canner which I would need to can the beets in jars without vinegar. I could freeze them, but it would be such a shame to pull them out of the freezer only to find they’ve lost their beet-y-ness in the process. So we’re just going to eat them!

I used to hate beets. Growing up, we ate beets out of a can. They tasted metallic, nothing like beets. While I was in college, I avoided all sugar, and the thought then was that beets were high in sugar, so I was never tempted to try them. My belief was that they tasted bad and they were bad for you.

But somewhere along the way I was turned around. Perhaps it was the CSA – I steamed and peeled my beets. I ate them with flaky, Maldon salt. I was smitten. And by then I understood that beets were highly nutritious. Some time later I began vegetable gardening in earnest. My friend Karen and her husband also had a huge garden at that time. I was green with envy when she told me that they harvested the most beautiful beets all summer long. I questioned her husband Tom about the secret to his beet bounty and he shrugged, I don’t know – I just keep throwing the seeds in the ground. And really, that’s all there is to it. If you’re taking care of your soil, they will grow. So that’s what we do. And as a result, we quite happily make this Roasted Beet with Balsamic Glaze dish quite often!