Beets are very nutritious and healthy root vegetables. Beet juice is a common ingredient for healthy diet recipes. This tuber can be eaten raw or in salads, cooked as a vegetable as a side dish to the main course of the meal.
Have you ever tried eating fresh beets? In a grocery store, they won’t look very tempting; covered in dirt and a fun violet color.
Not many are tempted to eat this purple vegetable. Properly prepared beets can be a very tasty and healthy dish.
Selection and Storage:
When you shop at a store, look for raw beets that are crisp, firm, and shiny, not overly dry. It’s even better if the beets contain leaves. If you’re buying precooked, the skin should be smooth, with no blackheads or cracks. Try to buy small beets as large ones may contain more fiber.
Storage:
Fresh, you can keep it for 3-4 days in the vegetable compartment of your fridge, sealed in an airtight container. Cut into slices or cubes, it can be kept frozen for several months.
Preparation methods:
To cook beets, first wash them under cold running water to remove dirt and debris. Then submerge them in boiling water with their stems. Add a little salt and vinegar. When cool, you should be able to peel the skin.
Recipe Ideas:
- When you buy raw beets, grate them finely and eat them as a snack with vinegar and olive oil or just toss them with salad dressing.
- Precooked beets are ideal for salad dressings.
- You can also find them as pickles in stores and very popular in South American homes.
- In Indian cuisine, it is used to prepare meat curry dishes. Beetroot juice is also a very popular healthy drink.
some history:
The botanical name for beets is Beta Vulgaris. It belongs to the Amaranthaceae family. It is more commonly known as ‘beet’ or ‘garden beet’; a purple root vegetable. Beetroot is also grown as a leafy vegetable. The different varieties of beet vegetables are:
Chard:
Green leafy vegetable widely used in Mediterranean recipes. It is a highly nutritious leaf but its roots are not as nutritious. Other common names are; Beet spinach, chard, silver beet, etc.
Sugar beet:
It is a plant whose tubers contain a large amount of sugar. It is produced commercially for the production of sugar and molasses.
Beetroot has a long historical background for its cultivation, most likely dating back to the second millennium BC. According to history, the plant was first used for domestic purposes in the Mediterranean region. Beetroot was also used for medicinal purposes.
The first recipes were published around the second century. It is then that a red, white and yellow root crop variety of high nutritional quality is developed.
Today, it is grown as a vegetable (beet), leaves (chard, beet), as fodder and for sugar production.
France is the second largest grower in Europe, just after Italy. Beetroot is grown mainly in Orleans, Brittany and Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
Raw or fresh, it is available in stores from May to October, while cooked and vacuum-packed, it is available year-round.