Most gardeners perceive beet tops as waste that must be removed after harvesting. In fact, green leaves are a valuable source of nutrients and can be used as raw materials for canning. To get delicious preparations for the winter, just find out what recipes with beet tops exist.
Composition and benefits of beet tops
Beetroot is a universal type of garden crop, as leaves and roots are used for food. Several centuries ago, only the tops were used for food, and the underground part was intended only for medical purposes. Today the situation is exactly the opposite and, mainly, root vegetables are used for food, and leaves, at best, are used to feed livestock. This situation deprives a person of a valuable source of vitamins and nutrients.
Beet tops contain a large amount of vitamins; they contain folic acid, which is necessary during the period of conception and gestation. When consuming leaves, a person is able to fill the body with a huge list of chemical elements, including phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iodine and zinc.
Doctors advise including beet tops in your diet if you have the following problems:
- pathologies of the cardiac system;
- violation of the elasticity and patency of blood vessels;
- disruptions in the functioning of the endocrine system;
- anemia, problems with blood composition;
- stomach ulcer, gastritis.
Regular consumption of tops helps normalize metabolism and improves blood circulation, which has a beneficial effect on a person’s well-being. Due to the presence of choline in the greens, positive changes in the functioning of the liver are observed, since the active element prevents the formation of fatty deposits.
Improvements in the functioning of the digestive system occur thanks to pectin, which blocks the action of harmful intestinal bacteria.
An excellent replacement for fresh herbs are winter preparations, which allow you to obtain a valuable product during the cold period; a person has the opportunity to enrich the diet with tasty and healthy dishes at any time.Canned beet tops can be used as a snack, an addition to side dishes, as a dressing for soups or as a salad ingredient.
Preparing the main ingredients
For salads and fresh use of tops, it is recommended to collect early leaves, as they become tough during the harvest period. The workpiece can also be made from late tops, but in order to soften it, heat treatment is carried out. For harvesting, choose cloudy weather without rain. If the vegetables were fed with nitrates, then it is necessary to cut off 5 centimeters of the cuttings at the base, this is where their accumulation is observed.
After collection, the leaves are thoroughly washed, excess debris and greens with obvious signs of damage are removed. To make the process easier, you can put the tops in a bowl of water for a couple of minutes; all small specks and light foreign objects will float up, so they can be easily removed.
Recipes for preparing preparations for the winter
Today there are many options for using beet tops. Gardeners often eat fresh greens in salads and add them to soups. An equally common method is drying leaves and freezing them. To preserve the qualities of the plant in winter, use:
- pickling;
- pickling;
- canning.
When choosing a cooking recipe, it should be taken into account that heat exposure reduces the value of the product. At the same time, hot preservation methods provide beet tops with the longest possible storage.
Dressing for borscht
It is not difficult to prepare a dressing for borscht, and in the future its use significantly saves the cooking time of the soup. The preparation can be used not only as an ingredient in a dish, but also as a regular salad.
The recipe involves the use of the following components:
- beets - 1 kilogram;
- water - 200 milliliters;
- tops - 500 grams;
- onions, heads - 1 kilogram;
- carrots - 1 kilogram;
- tomatoes - 1 kilogram;
- salt - 1.5 tablespoons;
- sugar - 1 tablespoon;
- vinegar 70% - ½ teaspoon.
The sugar and salt content in the recipe should be adjusted, since beets and tomatoes can have different sweetness and differ in their acid content. The type and shape of cutting vegetables is chosen depending on one’s own preferences; in most cases, the shape of slices or cubes is chosen.
First, pour a little sunflower oil into the pan, fry the carrots and onions until the vegetables become soft. After this, add beets, add water and simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and sugar and keep in simmer mode for another 10 minutes. Add salt and vinegar and mix the mixture thoroughly, keeping it on the fire until the beets are ready. Lastly, add the tops, leaving to simmer for 5 minutes. After boiling, the mixture is placed in sterilized jars.
Canned red beet tops
Beet leaves, for further use in borscht, can be prepared in just a few minutes, which is why the method is called “five-minute”. The leaves are cut, placed tightly in jars and filled with hot salty solution.
Salt and sugar are used to taste; the standard proportion is when 2 to 1 proportions are used per 1 liter of water and vinegar is added in the amount of ½ teaspoon. Canning involves sterilizing jars for 5 minutes. Vinegar is added to containers immediately before closing them.
Pickled leaves, petioles
You can pickle leaves and cuttings of beets. Since the structure of the parts of the plant is different, different processing of raw materials is assumed.For a recipe for 1 jar of 0.5 liters you will need:
- petioles 250 grams or 200 grams of beet leaves;
- salt - 1 teaspoon;
- sugar - 0.5 teaspoons;
- garlic - 1 clove;
- horseradish - 2 centimeters;
- allspice, black pepper - 5 and 10 pieces each;
- vinegar 70% - 1 milliliter.
The petioles are prepared using the triple-pouring method, that is, the hot marinade is poured, drained, boiled and re-poured 3 times. The leaves are prepared by sterilization, that is, the hot marinade is poured into jars and containers and boiled in water for 5 minutes. The blanks covered with lids are turned over and wrapped in a warm blanket.
Pickled
The method involves the use of tops. The recipe requires the following ingredients:
- stems - 1 kilogram;
- garlic - 1 piece;
- salt - 1 tablespoon per liter of water;
- bay leaf - 2 leaves;
- pepper - 10 peas.
The stems are doused with boiling water and placed tightly in jars, garlic and peppercorns cut into slices are placed between the layers, and salt is poured over the top. If you want to get the finished product in a week, then pour boiling water over the workpiece, keep it at room temperature for 2 days and put it in the refrigerator. If you fill it with cold water and put it in a cold cellar, the result is achieved after 3 weeks.
In Armenian
Beet tops prepared in Armenian style are called “borani”. Prepared from the following products:
- beet tops - 1 large bunch;
- onion - 1 head;
- garlic - 1 clove;
- salt, herbs, sour cream are added to taste;
- butter.
Finely chopped onions are sautéed in oil to achieve a golden hue. After this, add chopped tops and simmer under a closed lid for 15 minutes, add salt and pepper, during the process you need to periodically stir the mixture.Prepare the sauce by mixing chopped garlic with sour cream and thoroughly whisking with herbs. The dish is served simultaneously with the dressing.
Pickling
Salting allows you to preserve the tops with the maximum content of nutrients and vitamins. To do this, green leaves are cut and placed in dense layers of 2 centimeters in transparent containers, alternating with salt. The recipe requires coarse grinding without iodine content.. If the tops are too rough and hard, then first pour boiling water over them and wait until they dry.
The preparation for storage is put into the refrigerator and used directly when preparing the dish. To eliminate the risk of increased salt content in the finished dish, it is recommended to first add the dressing, and only then, if necessary, add additional salt.
Freezing
An excellent alternative to traditional dressings is the freezing method. The advantage of this option is the minimum required time, the possibility of long-term storage and preservation of useful substances, which is associated with the absence of thermal effects. You can freeze the product in the following ways:
- in plastic bags;
- containers;
- in the form of ice cubes.
Most often, in order to preserve the product, they choose the storage option in bags, since it requires a minimum of time and allows you to quickly process large volumes of raw materials.
Before freezing, washed beet tops are doused with boiling water, which makes them softer and more pliable. After drying, the greens are placed in bags from which excess air is removed. This action will ensure better storage of the product and save space in the freezer.
Beet tops can be stored separately from other greens or you can create a combination of herbs. Good “partners” for her are parsley and dill. This storage option is ideal for preparing soup dressings, as it allows you to form portioned bags or cubes for 1 use.
Tops appetizer
You can roll up beet stalks with pepper; this combination will be a great appetizer for the table. If the tops are tender, then there is no need to treat the stems with boiling water. Tough shoots are doused with hot water or boiled for 1 minute. For the recipe you will need:
- tops - 0.6 kilograms;
- salt - 1.5 teaspoons;
- wine vinegar 6% - 60 milliliters;
- garlic - 3 cloves;
- sweet pepper - 3 pieces.
The petioles are cut into 10 centimeters in size and placed in sterilized containers with sliced peppers, adding garlic evenly. You should not compact the layers too tightly. Add salt on top. The water is heated to boiling water and carefully poured into the jar to the level of the hanger. Add vinegar and sterilize for 10 minutes, then cover with lids and leave to cool.
How to properly store workpieces
Prepared delicious preserves can be considered half the job done, but it is no less important to preserve the preparations in the winter. The average shelf life of closed cans is considered to be 1 year, but the presence of a preservative in the form of vinegar in the composition allows you to increase this period.
You can store containers in the refrigerator, but, in most cases, choose cellar conditions, since a large number of cans can be stored in such a room. The key to long-term storage is the tightness of the containers and the temperature regime, which for preservation should be from 3 0C to 15 0C.
Before sending to the cellar, the jars should be checked for leaks; containers with the workpiece should be removed if droplets appear. These tops can be used for immediate consumption. It is not rolled up a second time, since with repeated heat treatment it loses its qualities, and the absence of such a procedure will not allow long-term storage of the workpiece.
