I plucked my first beets in August, but somehow I always think of them as a fall crop. Earlier in the summer, I toss them into all sorts of mixed-vegetable recipes and no-recipe-required meals. They then become pickles when a large batch is ready; they keep so well in vinegar that I included four beet recipes, from quick to canned, in The Complete Guide to Pickling. Yet I often wait until fall to make the salad I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

The wait is primarily for our apples to fully ripen. Even though I like slightly tart ones in this salad, the ones on our trees typically have a starchy, chalky texture when picked too early. If you’re buying apples or grow ones that ripen early, this salad really can be made with the season’s first beets.

Learn more about roasting vegetables and get the complete recipe for Roasted Golden Beet and Garlic Salad in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

Regardless of when you eat them, I recommend roasting beets rather than boiling them. Wrapping whole beets in a foil packet both roasts and steams them, ensuring they don’t dry out and concentrating their flavor. In the heat of summer, I set that foil packet on the edge of a hot grill while I’m cooking other food instead of turning on the kitchen oven. Medium-sized beets are ready before a chimney of charcoal burns out.

A few years ago, I started taking those roasted beets a step further and smoking them for extra flavor. I look forward all year to gathering the layers for a Vegetarian Smoked-Beet Reuben, but they’re also delicious in a simpler sandwich or even pickled.

Here are just a few other recipes on the blog that start with roasted vegetables. You can find more in the recipe index and this blog post.

• Roasted Kale Chips
• Balsamic-Roasted Radishes
• Moroccan Shaved and Roasted Carrots
• Roasted and Curried Squash Soup
• Roasted Winter Vegetable “Grain” Bowls
• Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Pie

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.