[Sca-cooks] More on Beets and Beet Roots

[david friedman]

>Master Cariadoc comments about some of the period quotes on beets:
>>>>>
>>There are white, black, and red varieties. The red ones are much
>>appreciated when thinly sliced in salad, being first boiled in water or
>>cooked under hot embers, thinly sliced, and dressed with oil, vinegar,
>>and salt. The sweet white ones are the best.
>
>I think this could be a reference to either the leaves or the root,
>although specifying the red ones, which other sources suggest have a
>more edible root, at least suggests the latter.
><<<<
>Why do you say this could suggest the leaves?
>I thought all the leaves would be green, but here they talk about 
>the red ones being much appreciated when slice in a salad.

I believe that modern chard comes in both a green leaved and a red 
leaved variety, and is essentially beet greens or close. 
Alternatively, "the red ones" could mean "the leaves of the variety 
with red roots."

>And earlier about white, black and red varieties. I admit they may 
>be using the color of the roots to indicate which type of beet, 
>while still using only the leaves, but how do you cook leaves under 
>hot embers? On the otherhand, that is a pretty straight forward 
>thing to do with roots.

I assume that is referring to the roots. But it seems to be as much a 
medicinal as a culinary use--to remove the smell of garlic from your 
breath.

>Would/do the leaves of the various leaves vary in sweetness? Or 
>taste at all? Why specify sweet white ones, if you aren't eating the 
>root? How would anyone know they were sweet if they weren't eating 
>the root?

I think it's clear that it is the root being described as sweeter.

" saving that his roote is much thicker, and shorter, very well like 
to a Rape or Turnep, but very redde within, and sweeter in tast then 
any of the other two sortes."

But the question vis a vis the recipe is whether the normal use was 
eating the greens or the roots--hence how the recipe would be 
interpreted if it didn't specify. The idea that it could be either 
strikes me as implausible, since they are very different things. We 
seem to have lots of references to eating the green, few to eating 
the root, so my guess is still that the recipe intends the greens.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/