Lacto-Fermented Sliced Red Beets

Okay so not everyone likes beets… and that’s fine! I know I didn’t like them when I was a kid, it’s just been within the past few years that I’ve begun enjoying beets. Some people say they taste like dirt, and I can see where they’re coming from. Beets have an earthy flavour, but at the same time they’re sweet and rich. I say don’t give up on a vegetable just because you didn’t like it the first time you tried it. Taste buds change, and I’m not just talking as we become adults.

For those of you who are trying to change your eating habits for the better, there is hope. When your taste buds are accustomed to processed foods that are overly sugary and/or salty, it’s impossible to appreciate the complex, natural flavours of vegetables. I hear this all the time from people who want to start eating healthier after a lifetime of surviving, struggling even, on the “standard American diet” of processed foods. They just don’t LIKE vegetables, they don’t taste good. The good news: Once you stop eating processed foods, you lose the taste for them. Your taste buds readjust and you can begin to develop a taste for whole, healthy, natural foods. You can begin to appreciate the sweetness of a yam, the juicy crunch of a cucumber, and the earthiness of a beet. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen. Eventually you begin craving natural foods, and you could care less about processed foods!

Not everyone will like beets in the end, but the moral of the story is don’t give up. Ditch those processed foods and rediscover your taste buds. If you are interested in reading more about the evolution of our current food industry, the manipulation of our food supply, its effects on us, and what we can do about it , I highly recommend you check out Pandora’s Lunchbox by Melanie Warner. It’s a great, eye-opening read.

For those of you that already like beets, I encourage you to try fermenting them! The flavour of fermented beets is salty and tangy, with a hint of that beet sweetness. The slices soften, but still have a slight crunch. I am a big fan of fermented foods, especially of fermenting your own foods. Cultured foods are a valuable addition to anyone’s diet. Besides all the benefits I’ve mentioned in previous fermenting posts, it has even been shown that fermented foods can help quench sugar cravings. Beets are fairly high in sugar themselves, but when allowed to ferment, the bacteria consume much of this sugar and produce vitamins, enzymes, lactic acid, and other beneficial things. This means the end product is beets that are lower in sugar and higher in other nutrients. How can you beet that? (haha, I’m so funny). If you’ve never tried fermenting, get on it already! It’s my favourite thing to experiment with in the kitchen, as you can tell I am quite passionate about fermenting.

You can play with this recipe if you’d like. I made it pretty straightforward, just plain sliced beets. You can shred, slice, or cube the beets, you can add spices for more flavour, or you can even include other shredded/sliced/cubed veggies such as carrots or onions. Have fun with it!