Dated: January 11, 2017

This blog post completes the beet powder series, showcasing the outcome of my homemade beet powder from homegrown beets. Following the previous post where I showed fresh shredded beets, this image demonstrates how they appear after several hours in a dehydrator.

Their darkened appearance is not a result of scorching; they were dehydrated at a medium setting of 115° resulting in completely dried raw beet shreds.

My previous post documented using a Vitamix to shred beets in water, but I worried about losing beneficial beet properties to the water. This picture compares the Vitamix-shredded beets in my hand to the hand-shredded, dried beets in the bowl.

The Vitamix shreds appeared so pale that I opted to discard them and use my vintage Vitamix to grind the dark shreds into powder.

This powerful appliance is excellent for turning dried vegetables into powder. My past home business, “Herrick’s Homegrown Stiffneck Garlic Powder,” utilized this method to process my homegrown garlic. A previous blog post discusses this endeavor, and my book, “The Complete Guide to Making Great Garlic Powder,” along with my first PDF tutorial, detail the process of transforming fresh garlic bulbs into powder with the Vitamix.

This image shows the dried beet shreds after being ground in the Vitamix for a few seconds.

My new Vitamix excels at powdering compared to my old one. We upgraded mainly for smoothies and juices as we transition from our Champion juicer, which makes pulp-free juice. While the Vitamix blends fruits and vegetables into juice with pulp, our older model doesn’t compare to the newer ones for this task.

Returning to beet powder…

This homemade beet powder displays a beautiful pinkish, almost mauve, hue and possesses a delightful, sweet beet flavor. Marlene incorporates it into her smoothies, while I mix it with yogurt.

Making beet powder is straightforward and offers a way to use up large garden beets. Although likely less nutritious than fresh beets, it provides another preservation method. Now, with my garden frozen solid in mid-January, it’s a real treat to savor homemade beet powder crafted from my own harvest.

This concludes the final post in the four-part series. You can find the beginning post here.