Betteraves

Bet what? Yes, the simple Beet is "bet-RAHve" in French. It is so common, it needs no accent. The marvelous beet figures into my basket each week, in bunches. We try to juice the greens, or they go in the compost. Rich in vitamins, the candy-stripe beet is part of our daily meal, and it's so pretty in a pink lustre-ware bowl:In France, they are sold pre-cooked; it's a holdover since WWII, it takes too much energy to cook the beets by each family, so the farmers in France still sell them cooked; otherwise they are sold vacuum packed, at the grocery store. But the best place to buy them is at the market:

Raw, they can be shredded:
but I prefer them baked, with a brush of olive oil and a generous dash of herbs, mostly thyme.
slip them from the skin after cooking and you have perfection; add them to a pickle recipe and you have Mom's sweet pickled beets.
I used to wait til I went to Berkeley Bowl in the Bay Area, to stock up on golden beets, but you can get them at your local market here...