can freeze beets?

10 years ago

We love cooked beets but was wondering if we bought one of those? gallon size cans of sliced beets one can buy at a wholesale store could be divided up into meal-size or bigger packages & frozen? How would they be then when thawed out to eat later? I can't grow them in the garden as with arthritic hands, it is so difficult & painful to peel them!

Thanks for any ideas you may have tried successfully!

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Comments (8)

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
10 years ago
"------ it is so difficult & painful to peel them!------"

Boil them first, skin comes right off. No need to use a peeler.

dcarch
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annie1992
10 years ago
I also boil beets first and then the skins slide right off, like blanched tomatoes or peaches do.

I did try freezing beets from the garden, but the texture suffered and they became watery. I don't know whether already cooked and canned beets could be more successfully frozen. I'd buy a small can and try it, just to see if the final product is acceptable.

Annie
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vieja_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
I did freeze some small store-bought cans of sliced beets ... you are right Annie: I did not like the texture at all of the thawed beets either!
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writersblock (9b/10a)
10 years ago
>I also boil beets first and then the skins slide right off, like blanched tomatoes or peaches do.

Roasting, too. And if you have to peel a raw beet an easy way to do it is to make a crinkly wad of aluminum foil and rub the outside with that. Not as easy as cooking them first, but way easier than grappling with a peeler or paring knife.
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sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
10 years ago
Not sure about big box store cans or quantity, but in the winter months when we roast chickens and a sheet pan of carrots, potatoes, celery, garlic, beets...and any veggies we have in the fridge...we often freeze the leftover half chickens along with veggies and grains in a food saver packet and they heat up great in a slow heat oven casserole covered. The beets are just as good as fresh. I think they would freeze fine if heated slowly in the oven covered at 275 for an hour.
Worth a testing?. (we love beets and i grow many). We do freeze some after roasting but mostly keep fresh ones stored in our cool basement storage and watch them in the fall.
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annie1992
10 years ago
Vieja, I'm not surprised. Maybe you could try sleevendog's method of roasting fresh beets and then freezing, although I seldom roast beets.

sleevendog, I also store beets in the fall in the root cellar and they will last for quite some time. I've not tried freezing roasted beets because.....well.....I just don't like them very well roasted. If I leave them whole, so they are easy to peel, they don't get done enough for my liking. I do not want them "crisp tender", I want them done all the way through, soft enough to mash. Yeah, I know, it's politically uncorrect but that's the way I like them. I do love beets, though.

I've tried blanching and freezing beets and freezing canned beets, but both methods resulted in a final product that was unacceptable to me.

Annie
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sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
10 years ago
Yeah, i can see that. Some canning or jared may not freeze well. I like them all ways. Grated raw in summer slaw but that is almost a pickle once marinated...no mayo in my slaw. More of a vinegar Asian slaw.
Roasted and frozen get a second cooking re-heat and get rather soft. I quarter them and roast without peeling...we eat the earthy skins after a good scrubbing...
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ryseryse_2004
10 years ago
Last year I only had a few beets to harvest and I froze them. I was not at all happy with the texture. Canning them is much better. This year I pickled 25 pints! We love them with pickled eggs.

BTW, for someone with arthritis, growing beets is probably easier than much of anything else.
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