Irish Winter Veg in season part 3, Beetroot

Fresh beetroot is juicy, vibrant, tasty and in season June to Feb in Ireland. Beetroot can be golden, candy striped plain purple. Beetroot has a rich earthy flavour with a mild, bitter edge. It belongs to the same family as chard and spinach, both the leaves and the root can be eaten.

Buying and Storing Tips

Buying beetroot:

• Try to buy with leaves intact, that way you know they are really fresh
• They should be heavy for their size and firm, not soft or wrinkled
• They should be solid without nicks or splits
• They are most tender in the peak season, June- Oct

Storing beetroot:

• Remove leaves before storing, leave about 3cm of stem intact
• Store beets in a cool dark place or fridge for up to 3 weeks
• The beet greens (leaves) should be eaten within a few days

• Wash the outer skin but do not tear as this holds the pigment in
• Use gloves if necessary as the pigment can stain your hands
• To remove pigment from your hands, rub them with lemon juice
• Don't peel until beet is cooked

Beetroot is low in fat, high in fibre and folate and contains manganese, vitamin C and potassium. The bright red colour is from antioxidants called betacyanins that may help prevent high blood pressure and protect blood vessels.

Red beetroot is one of the richest sources of glutamine, an amino acid, essential to the health and maintenance of the intestinal tract. Beetroot fibre has been shown to increase the number of white blood cells, which are our fighting cells, they help detect and eliminate abnormal cells.

Beetroot leaves are rich in vitamin K and the antioxidant beta carotene.

What does beetroot go with?
I love them with goats cheese! Also they go with anchovies, apples, balsamic vinegar, bitter greens, butter, carrots,celery, chives, cider vinegar, cream, cumin, duck, garlic, ginger, honey, horseradish, lemons, mustard, olive oil, onions, oranges, parmesan cheese, potatoes, sour cream, venison, walnuts and watercress.

Raw - They can be grated into salads or fermented, like in my Christmas Kraut recipe. As usual, when vegetables are close to their raw state you can maximise the nutrients.

Soups - The classic borscht is a vibrant beetroot soup served cold but there are plenty of hot soup recipes too.

Salads I tend to shy away from the cooked beetroot in vinegar that is often served at basic salad bars and instead prefer the more interesting salads like my spiralised beetroot salad with goats cheese and walnuts or Carrot & beetroot slaw or thinly sliced beetroots with goats cheese.

Savoury dishes - There are so many ways to use beetroot. Beetroot burgers with feta are delicious, beetroot crisps are a nice snack, beetroot risotto, beetroot and goat's cheese tart and beetroot falafel.

Dips- I love roast beetroot hummus, the recipe is on my website. I serve this with turkey burgers and with crudite.

Sweet dishes - With the trend now of using vegetable in sweet dishes, beetroot is no exception. Here are 21 recipes ranging from ice cream to cookies to donuts to various chocolate cakes and snack bars.

Juices/smoothies - Beetroot is often used in juices, beetroot and orange being my favourite, it does tend to dominate the colour of the juice though! You can make a fermented drink called Kvas or I have even found a recipe for Beetroot Martini!

I hope you try out my roast beetroot hummus and please let me know if there is any food or food related topic you would like me to include in my blog or a particular healthy eating cookery class you would like to attend..

Happy cooking

Fiona