You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip, but you can out of a beetroot. In fact, you have to be careful with beets. They bruise easily despite their tough appearance and release juices from the slightest scratch. Beetroot juice will stain your clothing and is very difficult, if not impossible, to remove. Why is this?

The answer is very simple. The cellular structure of beets is quite fragile and easily breaks under any kind of pressure, causing leaks. However, boiling fresh beets with the skin on greatly reduces this leakage, so this tactic should be considered when preparing beets. For borscht, for example, you want the fugue to produce the gorgeous blood-red color associated with the soup, while if serving as a garnish, you might want the beets to look as red as possible.

Be very careful with beetroot juice when preparing raw beets as a grated garnish for salads. Raw beets in particular ‘bleed’ a lot, and since salads are usually prepared in a rush, it’s easier to stain your clothes this way.

No other vegetable loses its juices as dramatically and prolifically as beets, although some fruits like plums do. Even tomato juice is quite clear: it is the pulp that makes tomato juice red. As far as root vegetables go, beets are really weird. I’m sure the juice would make a good dye, though I’ve never heard of it. It would certainly make a good marinade.

The last word in handling fresh beets is this: with caution. If you are going to host a party remember that beetroot juice will stain the skin of your hands for hours and you will not be able to wash it off. So if you’re going to be shaking hands with a lot of people, you might be embarrassed to extend a beet-red hand to your guests.