Beetroot Powder For Cancer...
And General Health
(Part 3)

Dateline: 7 January 2017 AD

"Big uglies" from my January garden!

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series I  told you about how I came to learn about beetroot powder and it's remarkable health benefits. In this essay I will explain how I recently made my own beet powder.

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January in upstate New York is typically freezing cold with plenty of snow on the ground, but it will occasionally warm up a bit and rain. That was our meteorological situation a few days back, and it occurred to me that there were still beets in my garden. 

I've had beetroot powder on my mind for awhile and I wondered if maybe those beets in my garden were still sound. I knew that beets have a high sugar content and will take some freezing and thawing before eventually turning to globs of mush, which is always the fate of an uncovered beetroot in these parts come spring. 

If I had covered the roots with straw in the fall they would stay sound into spring, but I didn't do that. The beets still in my garden were what I call "big uglies." They were overgrown; they were well past their most appealing stage of growth. They weren't worth covering... or so I've always thought. 

It turned out that the big uglies were perfectly sound. Their tops had frozen and turned to a withered slime, but not the roots. I pulled a few, hacked away the slimy tops, scraped off some of the earth that came up with the root, and brought them into the house. That's them in the picture above.

I washed the roots, and cut away the stubby stems on their tops, and they looked a little more respectable, as you can see in this next picture...


I contemplated peeling those beets, but instead, opted to just trim off the most rough and "calloused" skin near the tops, and this is what the beets then looked like...


My plan for turning those beets into powder was to first shred them and put them into our Excalibur dehydrator to dry until crisp. Having recently purchased a Vitamix blender, I decided to try shredding some beetroot in that. So I cut up some smaller chunks...


The Vitamix company says that the way to shred vegetables with their machine is to first, fill the container partway with water, then put in the beets, then manually pulse the blade until you have the degree of shreddedness you desire. That's what I did. It was easy and fun. Here is the result...


Yes, it did a lovely job of shredding those big uglies, but seeing all the liquid, infused with so  much beet goodness, was a little disconcerting. It would be a shame to pour that liquid down the drain! So I separated the shredded beet and saved the juice...


The beet juice I saved was powerfully beety. I drank a glass of it. A little at a time. I sensed as I drank that liquid that it was something nurtitionally spectacular, and that I had better not drink too much at one time. I'll say more about fresh Vitamixed beetroot juice shortly. 

I didn't feel that shredding in the Vitamix, and losing all that beet goodness to the liquid was the best way to go about making wholesome beet powder, so I layered the Vitamixed shreds on one dehydrator tray and proceeded to shred the rest of the beets by hand. Here's a picture of the Vitamixed pieces ready to go into the food dryer...


As I said, I shredded the rest of the beets by hand. They shredded quickly and easily. I filled several more trays with the shreds, as you can see in this next picture...


After shredding the last of the beets and getting them into the dehydrator, I had several beet "stubs" (you can see them in the background of the above picture) that were left over after hand-shredding as far as I was comfortable doing. I put those pieces in the Vitamix, along with the shredding juice (made previously) and blended them into very small particles (the Vitamix is particularly good at "juicing" a vegetable). I ended up with a full half gallon canning jar of raw beetroot juice and put it in the fridge.

I have been drinking that juice every day since then, but only a little at a time...


Fresh beetroot juice is an acquired taste. I've been drinking one small glass of it in the morning and one in the afternoon. It is a grainy, earthy, dirty, wonderful juice. I can feel my body responding to the little glass of liquified beetroot when I drink it. It's almost like a body shock. At first, I would gasp after taking a drink, like a person would gasp when coming to the surface after being underwater for too long. And there is definitely an energy boost. Maybe it's more of an adrenalin rush—like you might get after surviving a near accident when driving an automobile. Whatever the case, I like it. In moderation.

You can bet I'll be making more fresh beetroot juice with the Vitamix. I can see it being a winter-long daily drink for me.

Now, as for the beetroot powder, I'll show you how that turned out in Part 4— the conclusion of this little Upland series. 

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Click Here to go to Part-4 of this Series


10 comments:

  1. Wow Herrick you sure know how to keep me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment! Thanks for the information.

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  2. Thanks Herrick! I am enjoying this a great deal. I have many vegetarian friends who are very much into beets. I am only familiar with them in borscht. You intrigue me to try - and fortunately, they seem to be one thing I can grow.

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  3. Elizabeth L. Johnson said:
    Beets do have an earthy taste, don't they? I've always liked beets, whether pickled or not. Delicious! So neat to hear about the energy boost.

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  4. I also am a beet lover and have on occasion pulled a small one from the garden ,washed it off and eaten it raw. Tastes a little like dirt, but sweet dirt! Will be doing the beet drying trick next fall. I was going to go buy a few bunches from the store to try this but that seemed like sacrilege as I have many pints of just plain and pickled beets in the larder!
    Getting about 8-10 inches of snow here today, so all of my oats are under it and going back into the ground as fertilizer hopefully!

    Love the new Upland blog format and the things you keep coming up with!!

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    1. Everett,

      Eating a fresh-picked raw beet from the garden is powerfully good for a body. Now I know how you manage to get so much done out there on your island. We like pickled beets a lot here.

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  5. I've thrown chunks of beet roots in the blender with green drink but never thought to drink the juice. I also put the greens in the blender and they're also loaded with goodness so a little goes a long way.
    Nancy

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  6. I can remember the very first time I had beetroot juice (albeit mixed with carrot and apple juice) and I loved it instantly.....nearly as if m body knew I needed it.

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  7. Try peeling those beets the skin can be bitter according to fellow New Yorker Andrew Saul(AndrewSaul.com or DoctorYourself.com), you might like that beet juice much better. Today I juiced several carrots, 2 small beets, 2 Granny Smith apples, 1 lemon and got just shy of a quart which disappeared very quickly!
    God left us here with tools to stay healthy starting with plants. Keep us posted on Jack's progress, wishing him all the best.

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  8. Thanks for the comments, everyone. Much appreciated.

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  9. Very significant Information for us, I have think the representation of this Information is actually superb one. This is my first visit to your site. Best Beet Powder

    ReplyDelete