Earlier this week, I had the serious pleasure of traveling to Rochester, New York, with one of my favorite brands: Love Beets. The trip was packed with two days of learning about Love Beets, trying new beet products and recipes, hanging out with other influencers and even learning food photography tips. I already seriously loved Love Beets and, if it’s even possible, now I love them even more. Here’s why:
Tour of Love Beets Production Facility
The first day of the trip we got to tour the Love Beets Production Facility. Off the bat, a LOT can be said about a company that wants you to see the behind the scenes of their product – it shows that they’re manufacturing in a safe, responsible, ethical, and healthy way that they’re proud of. The production facility tour showed me exactly that. So much care is put into the production of these beets – from removing imperfections, to sorting them by shape, to making sure food waste is minimized by using imperfect beets for beet juice and beet powder.
The production facility also made me think a lot about food processing – as a dietitian, I’ve always found the term “processed” to be super vague when it comes to food. Telling someone to “avoid processed food” pretty much makes no sense – most food is processed (read: altered from its natural state) to make into our markets and hands. The difference lies in how the food is processed. When some foods are processed, they’re stripped of their beneficial nutrients and can become products that barely look like the original. Other, less invasive types of processing highlight the food itself and simply make it easier for us to eat. The latter is super helpful when it comes to fruits and veggies (think: baby carrots or even pre-cut pineapple) and is the case for Love Beets. Let’s be honest – beets are not the easiest vegetable to handle. Love Beets does the prep work for us from start to finish and most importantly, does so in the healthiest and most responsible way. There’s no better, easier way to eat beets.
Beet Farm
Okay, wow. I was seriously blown away by the Love Beets farm. With 100+ acres of beets, it’s such a beautiful sight in itself. Learning about how the beets are harvested and picked was also so cool. SO much care is put into these beets – in fact, for the organic beets, weeds that can affect the crop have to be picked by hand (rather than using pesticides)! The farm uses a drone to count the beets in a matter of seconds, and also has a plant pathologist who helps spot, reduce and eliminate plant disease (AKA, anything affecting the quality of the beets). The farm showed me that not only are these beets handled well once picked, but also, that they’re grown and harvested in the most diligent way.
Love Beets Products
Finally, I absolutely loved seeing all the different products that Love Beets has to offer. Nutritionally, beets are such a powerhouse, but it’s amazing to see all the different ways that Love Beets products can help add more beets into our lives. In addition to cooked beets and different flavored-marinated beets, Love Beets has beet salsa (a MUST try!), beet powder, and even golden beets (my favorite!). We had dinner that night at The Owl House, where each course (and the cocktails!) included beets in some way. This trip reminded me that beets are such a versatile vegetable and I’m so excited to experiment with them more. From side dishes, to bake goods, to fun drinks, you can definitely expect to their gorgeous colors in my dishes way more often.
All in all, seeing the extreme love and care that goes into Love Beets from start to finish makes me love the brand even more. These beets are grown and harvested with care, manufactured and processed responsibly, and come in so many different, delicious varieties. Even more though, it was amazing to see how proud everyone on the Love Beets team is of the entire process – from the farmers, to the production facility staff, to the Philly-based marketing team, seeing each one of them be so passionate about the product made me love it even more too.
This trip was sponsored by Love Beets. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
