Thx for the link, Orange. So it's not the iron in it, but the "better" sugar, slow-burning, natural sugar. Good stuff.

But pickled eggs (though I love them too) and beets, wouldn't be the tastiest way to introduce a kid to beets.

I probably didn't eat much red beets before...simply because it was never part of traditional Chinese cuisine at all. And I was afraid dealing with the staining possibilities.

Still am. Thank goodness dearie loves beets and doesn't mind handling them to make our lovely soups, etc. (He used to can lots of them years ago.)