Ingredient Insight: Beets

Roasted, steamed or pickled there are a number of great ways to use beets. Appetizers, mains and even a dessert or two have been known to contain our feature ingredient of the week. Beets offer a list of vitamins and nutrients that we all need and can also help in the prevention and treatment of several health issues as well.

Originating from the Mediterranean, beets have been in the human diet for a very long time. Before and leading into the time of the Romans people mostly ate the beet greens, you know those tops that we all throw away now, and did not (or could not) bother with the roots. The roots were saved for medical purposes. Finally in the 1800’s French chefs were the first to really evaluate the beetroot for its culinary value and we have never looked back.

Nutritionally speaking it is no wonder that the Romans kept the beetroot for medicinal purposes.   With the beets ability to improve blood pressure and also reduce inflammation in the body there is next to no reason to not have beets in your diet. This one vegetable offers a respectable 2.8g. of dietary fibre per 100g. Beets are also a good source of many vitamins and minerals such as vitamin c, potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese and foliate.

With an earthy, sweet flavour that is unmistakable the beet could find its way onto your table in any number of ways. The vast majority of beets served today are pickled. On salads, topping appetizers or even as a side dish along a roast beef the pickled beet calls many places home. If roasting is more your thing a soup made of beets may be more your thing. The Eastern European dish borscht is arguably the beet dish, the only oddity is that almost every family has a slightly different recipe.

So why not go on a culinary adventure and work up your own family recipe with beets this week? For a really beetful time try picking up some fresh beets and making a salad with their greens, it used to happen all the time. Mild cheeses, capers and red onion all have a habit of playing well with beets. Whatever you decide, just have fun with it.