Bake these exactly as you'd bake a potato. Heat the oven to 350°f. Have dairy butter out to soften as this bakes.

Scrub a baseball to softball sized red beet, trim off the long root and top greens. (Beet greens cook up just like spinach, mustard greens or collards).

Wrap each whole beet in foil and bake until it's tender in a 350°f oven. About 45 minutes to an hour. If you're not sure if it's ready yet, pick up the foil wrapped beet with a heavy pot holder and give it a gentle squeeze. If it gives easily when you squeeze it a couple of times, then it's done, the same way you'd test a baked potato for doneness. If it's still mostly firm, bake until it becomes soft to the touch. I don't think I ever baked one over an hour. When I open the foil, the beet is steamy and soft, ready for butter and salt.

When I was a teen, once I got home from highschool I'd pick a beet or two from our garden, clean it, do everything above to bake it. Then eat it exactly like a baked potato with butter and salt, just no cheese or sour cream. I liked mine mashed up with softened dairy butter and a couple of shakes of salt - very satisfying!

My Dad watched me doing this one day and asked me how it tasted. I shoved my plate over to him, and when he tasted it his eyes popped open and had another bite, he loved it! Neither of us liked pickled beets much, but this was very delicious and not the least like any pickled beet.

Mom obsessed over making her pickled beets, and sourly snubbed Dad and I enjoying baked, buttery beets. Which she refused to try. *sigh* Without intending to, I'd insulted her and infringed on her almighty pickled beet empire. -.-

..can't please everyone..