Bored with Borscht?
Beet it!
Diane Eros
What a shame beets don’t make it to our plates more often. They are sweet, buttery, and colourful. They are packed with potassium, folacin, and fiber. They are easy to cook and easy to grow. Locally grown beets are also easy to find, even long after the growing season is over, since they can keep for several weeks. And they’re cheap. Cheap like borscht? You bet.
Why are beets such an afterthought? As a temperate root crop, beets grow very well in Manitoba, even into the early fall. Maybe they grow too well, as I suspect every fall when my mother unloads another box full of jarred beet pickles into my arms. Sometimes, I am overwhelmed with beets. If I don’t do something soon, they’ll shrivel up in my basement again. So this fall, I call for a beet revival.
Beeting history
Beet root, whose same-species (Beta vulgaris) relative is Swiss chard, is edible from top to bottom. When the beet greens are young, eat them raw in salads or have them cooked in stir-fries and soups (if you choose to have them hot, add them at the very end — treat them like spinach and cook to wilt). The root, whose colour can vary from golden yellow to dark purple, is often boiled as a side vegetable.
The wild relative of the common beet is a sea beet, known as the maritima variety of the species, which grew along the southern coasts of Eurasia, and thrived along the Mediterranean. This undomesticated sub-species and its early domesticate version had thin, woody roots similar in shape to carrots. Only the leaves were truly edible, but we know that Greeks and Romans used the roots medicinally. Widespread cultivation of beets with fleshy, edible roots is relatively new, dating at the earliest to the 15th or 16th century in Europe. However, it gained popularity in eastern Europe, Russia, and Scandinavia some two or three centuries later, becoming a near food staple in some regions (colder regions especially appreciated the beet for its long-term storage and high sugar content).
Another variety of Beta vulgaris, the sugar beet, originates from beets used as animal fodder. In the late 18th century, German chemists became aware that these roots could be processed and, like sugar cane, could produce a refined sugar. Before this innovation, Europeans relied almost entirely on Carribean sugar. In fact, it is said that Napoleon encouraged the widespread cultivation of sugar beets in France, hoping to flood market in Europe, making British plantations in the Carribean irrelevant.
In fact, boiled beets are surprisingly delicious, and (not so surprisingly) simple to make. It is best to boil them whole, unpeeled, leaving an inch or so of stem to prevent “bleeding” (the loss of colour and nutrients). Boil for 25-40 minutes, depending on the size of the root and the desired doneness. I prefer them on the crunchier side, as they retain a nutty flavour. Keep in mind that beet root loses some of its nutrients with heat, so boiling it for a shorter time also helps retain nutrition density. When they are done, cool the roots in cold tap water. The skin slips off easily, and the beets can be sliced and served. The dark purple pigment turns your palms a fancy pink. I like this part. The pigment contains betacyanin, which is often linked to cancer prevention. I like this part also. For more information on the health benefits of beets see http://whfoods.org.
As much as I make fun of borscht, it is cheap and really quite good. Here is my mother’s “Fast Russian Borscht” recipe:
Fast Russian Borscht
