Incredible Ingredients…Beetroot by Nathalie Kyrou

Since Roman times, beetroot juice has been considered an aphrodisiac. It is a rich source of the mineral boron, which plays an important role in the production of human sex hormones. Beetroot juice can also help lower blood pressure, and the Romans even used beetroot as a treatment for fevers and constipation, among other ailments. Although the Greeks ate the leaves of the beetroot and valued the root for its medicinal qualities, it was the Romans who first cultivated it, in the second millennium BC, and brought it to the table.

Beetroot became commercially important in 19th century Europe following the development of the sugar beet in Germany and the discovery that sucrose could be extracted from this ingredient, providing an alternative to tropical sugar cane. The most well known cultivated variety of beet today is probably the red root vegetable known as the garden beet. However, other varieties such as the leaf vegetables chard and spinach beet, as well as the root vegetable, are still eaten worldwide.

Beets can be boiled, steamed or baked – choose beetroots that are small for shorter cooking times. Baby beetroots can be pan-fried in olive oil with other baby vegetables to serve as an accompaniment to meat or fish. Hot beetroot is delicious mixed with garlic and onions and its sweet, earthy flavour is perfect for making soup. Beetroot seems to go nicely with cheese too: try roasted beetroot and carrots with goat cheese, beetroot soup with feta, or beetroot and mascarpone risotto.

Beetroot is among the sweetest of vegetables, containing even more (natural) sugar than carrots or sweet corn, and yet the roots also contain significant amounts of vitamin C, while the leaves are an excellent source of vitamin A. They are also high in folate, soluble and insoluble dietary fibre and antioxidants. Now that’s what I call a guilt-free sweet treat!