BEETS
Great care should be taken in washing beets that the small rootlets are not broken or the skin of the beet bruised, as anything which causes the juice to escape injures both the taste and the colour. In the city, beets are seldom obtainable which require less than two or three hours’ cooking; but really young, small beets should not require more than one hour’s boiling. When boiled they should be drained, then plunged into cold water, after which the skin can be rubbed off with the hand. Some, however, prefer that beets should be baked or steamed; the time required to cook will then be somewhat longer. Canned beets are a great convenience.