Beet Tops - The most nutritious part of a beet

Wait! Don't waste your beet tops!
Have you ever eaten beet leaves? The leafy green tops of a beet are more nutritious than the beets themselves. They go great in a salad, steamed, in a smoothie or in soups. They don't taste like the earthy beet itself so if you don't like beets, you might still like their tops.

Beet tops are packed full of vitamin A, have 3 times the amount of iron as the beet root, are extremely high in calcium and even higher in potassium. You might want to think twice about throwing away your beet tops next time you buy beets!

How many of you buy beets at all? It seems like people either love beets or hate them with a vengeance, let alone even think about their leafy green (and delicious!) tops. To anyone out there who dislikes beets, I recommend reading Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. It will give you a whole new and fun perspective on beets.

Be aware: Beet tops (and spinach) are high in oxalic acid which depletes our body of calcium. Make sure you get a good variety of greens in your diet and don't just eat spinach or beet tops everyday and you'll be fine. Plus you'll get the nutrition from the beet tops and spinach.

"The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious."-Tom Robbins, author