Beautiful Beetroot (Recipes Incl.)
November 15th 2008 20:41
It's been a while since I have managed to get on and I would like to thank the lovely people at Microsoft for inventing Vista so it could KILL MY %^&$ing computer.
Now I feel much better, so let's talk about one of my favourite foods. Beetroot is the most colorful and nutritional food you can possibly eat.
History
The beet (Beta vulgaris) is a plant in the amaranth family. It is best known its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is probably the red root vegetable known as the garden beet or beetroot. However, other cultivated varieties include the leaf vegetables chard and spinach beet, as well as the root vegetables sugar beet, which is important in the production of table sugar, and mangelwurzel, which is a fodder crop. Three subspecies are typically recognised. All cultivated varieties fall into the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, while Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, commoly known as the sea beet, is the wild ancestor of these and is found throughout the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of Europe, the Near East, and India. A second wild subspecies, Beta vulgaris subsp. adanensis, occurs from Greece to Syria.
The beet has a long history of cultivation stretching back to the second millennium BC. The plant was probably domesticated somewhere along the Mediterranean, whence it was later spread to Babylonia by the 8th century BC and as far west as China by 850 AD. Available evidence, such as that provided by Aristotle and Theophrastus suggests that the leafy varieties of the beet were grown primarily for most of its history, though these lost much of their popularity much later following the introduction of spinach. The beet became highly commercially important in 19th century Europe following the development of the sugar beet in Germany and the discovery that sucrose could be extracted from them, providing an alternative to tropical sugar cane. It remains a widely cultivated commercial crop for producing table sugar.
Medicine
The roots and leaves have medicinal uses.
The Romans used beetroot as a treatment for fevers and constipation, amongst other ailments. Apicius in De re coquinaria gives five recipes for soups to be given as a laxative, three of which feature the root of beet. Hippocrates advocated the use of beet leaves as binding for wounds.
Beet juice can help lower blood pressure. Research published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension showed drinking 500ml of beetroot juice a day led to a reduction in blood pressure within one hour. The reduction was more pronounced after three to four hours, and was measurable up to 24 hours after drinking the juice.
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. Field Marshal Montgomery is reputed to have exhorted his troops to 'take favours in the beetroot fields', a euphemism for visiting prostitutes. From the Middle Ages, beetroot was used as a treatment for a variety of conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood. Platina recommended taking beetroot with garlic to nullify the effects of 'garlic-breath'.
Today the beetroot is still championed as a universal panacea. One of the most controversial examples is the official position of the South African Health Minister on the treatment of AIDS. Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Health Minister under Thabo Mbeki, has been nicknamed 'Dr. Beetroot' for promoting beets and other vegetables over antiretroviral AIDS medicines, which she considers toxic.
Polish Beet Barszcz Recipe - Barszcz Czysty Czerwony
Barszcz means "sour" in Polish and refers to any sour soup.
This clear red barszcz or barszcz czysty czerwony gets a desired hint of sourness from lemon juice or vinegar and is great eaten hot with boiled potatoes or cold with rye bread.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
4 beets, washed, or 2 cups sliced canned or jarred beets
4 cups meat or vegetable stock
1 minced clove garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper
Chopped fresh dill for garnish
Preparation:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and roast until tender, about 30-45 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice into strips or julienne.
In a medium pot, bring stock to boil, add beets, garlic, sugar, lemon juice or vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 10 minutes.
Serve hot with boiled potatoes and chopped dill for garnish, or cool quickly in an ice-water bath and refrigerate to serve cold garnished with dill and sour cream.
Beetroot relish
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 medium beetroot, peeled & grated
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 cup red wine
Heat a frying pan and toast cumin and sesame until seeds brown slightly. Add oil, beetroot and sugar and stir to combine. Add wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Serves 4-6.
So try one of these recipes or next time you make a sandwich try it with beetroot, ham, cheese and hot english mustard or when you make your way to order a juice to assist the empirical growth of Boost Juice try one of the beetroot juices. I would also like to add that my previous post in reagrds to eating Kangaroo - it tastes amazing with beetroot in any way. Bloody delish!!
I would like to thank Wikepedia for the majority of this information.
Now I feel much better, so let's talk about one of my favourite foods. Beetroot is the most colorful and nutritional food you can possibly eat.
History
The beet has a long history of cultivation stretching back to the second millennium BC. The plant was probably domesticated somewhere along the Mediterranean, whence it was later spread to Babylonia by the 8th century BC and as far west as China by 850 AD. Available evidence, such as that provided by Aristotle and Theophrastus suggests that the leafy varieties of the beet were grown primarily for most of its history, though these lost much of their popularity much later following the introduction of spinach. The beet became highly commercially important in 19th century Europe following the development of the sugar beet in Germany and the discovery that sucrose could be extracted from them, providing an alternative to tropical sugar cane. It remains a widely cultivated commercial crop for producing table sugar.
Medicine
The roots and leaves have medicinal uses.
The Romans used beetroot as a treatment for fevers and constipation, amongst other ailments. Apicius in De re coquinaria gives five recipes for soups to be given as a laxative, three of which feature the root of beet. Hippocrates advocated the use of beet leaves as binding for wounds.
Beet juice can help lower blood pressure. Research published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension showed drinking 500ml of beetroot juice a day led to a reduction in blood pressure within one hour. The reduction was more pronounced after three to four hours, and was measurable up to 24 hours after drinking the juice.
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. Field Marshal Montgomery is reputed to have exhorted his troops to 'take favours in the beetroot fields', a euphemism for visiting prostitutes. From the Middle Ages, beetroot was used as a treatment for a variety of conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood. Platina recommended taking beetroot with garlic to nullify the effects of 'garlic-breath'.
Today the beetroot is still championed as a universal panacea. One of the most controversial examples is the official position of the South African Health Minister on the treatment of AIDS. Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Health Minister under Thabo Mbeki, has been nicknamed 'Dr. Beetroot' for promoting beets and other vegetables over antiretroviral AIDS medicines, which she considers toxic.
Polish Beet Barszcz Recipe - Barszcz Czysty Czerwony
Barszcz means "sour" in Polish and refers to any sour soup.
This clear red barszcz or barszcz czysty czerwony gets a desired hint of sourness from lemon juice or vinegar and is great eaten hot with boiled potatoes or cold with rye bread.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
4 beets, washed, or 2 cups sliced canned or jarred beets
4 cups meat or vegetable stock
1 minced clove garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper
Chopped fresh dill for garnish
Preparation:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and roast until tender, about 30-45 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice into strips or julienne.
In a medium pot, bring stock to boil, add beets, garlic, sugar, lemon juice or vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 10 minutes.
Serve hot with boiled potatoes and chopped dill for garnish, or cool quickly in an ice-water bath and refrigerate to serve cold garnished with dill and sour cream.
Beetroot relish
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 medium beetroot, peeled & grated
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 cup red wine
Heat a frying pan and toast cumin and sesame until seeds brown slightly. Add oil, beetroot and sugar and stir to combine. Add wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Serves 4-6.
So try one of these recipes or next time you make a sandwich try it with beetroot, ham, cheese and hot english mustard or when you make your way to order a juice to assist the empirical growth of Boost Juice try one of the beetroot juices. I would also like to add that my previous post in reagrds to eating Kangaroo - it tastes amazing with beetroot in any way. Bloody delish!!
I would like to thank Wikepedia for the majority of this information.
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Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
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im sure i heard in a doco once that Australians are the only major nation to consume beets cold and pickled . . . when i think of beetroot i think of the vinegar taste of the sliced and canned variety . . . i had no idea the rest of the world didnt eat them like that!
Comment by Jason King
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