How To Store Beets

Raw beets can stay fresh for a long time if you store them properly.  So how do you store beets?  Do you keep beets in the refrigerator?  Do you store beets in a pantry closet?  Do you keep beets in the plastic bag, paper bag or without a bag?

I found out the hard way that you should store beets in the refrigerator.  I always stored the successfully in the refrigerator, but once my refrigerator was full and I didn’t feel like trying to find room for the beets.  My thought process was: beets are root vegetables like potatoes, they kind of feel like potatoes and since the potatoes are doing fine being stored in the pantry closet, the beets will be fine in the pantry too.  Wrong!  I put the beets next to the potatoes in the closet… and when I checked on them 5 days later, 1 beet was completely spoiled, and the rest of the beets were soft!  All those beets ended up in the garbage, and I learned my lesson – the place for the beets in the refrigerator, not the pantry.

The correct place to store beets is in the fruit and vegetable drawer of your refrigerator.  I’ve stored raw unpeeled beets in the refrigerator for as long as two weeks, and they were perfectly fresh.  I prefer to store beets in the plastic bag that they came in from the store.  I like to puncture a few holes in the bag to let the air in.  If you store the beets in the refrigerator without a bag, they tend to lose moisture and get a little soft and wrinkled.

You might be wondering – why do you buy beets in the first place?  What can you make with beets?  Look no further – beets are very tasty when roasted!  Follow this link for the recipe of roasted beets with picture.