Beet

Is a sweet, tasty and delicate vegetable, appreciated raw or cooked.  Remember to include it in your weekly menus, as soon as it is present on the marketplaces, to benefit from all the vitamins and nutrients it contains.

A beet weighs 300 g on average. A relative of Swiss chard, beetroot can be flattened, globose or elongated depending on the variety. Beet, high in sugar, is moderately caloric. Its regular consumption is nevertheless recommended, for its richness in essential vitamins, minerals, and trace elements.

Certainly, beetroot owes very sweet flavor to its high sugar content. It is therefore quite energetic but brings a good amount of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Raw, grated and seasoned with vinaigrette, the beet contains twice as much vitamin C (5 mg / 100 g).  Its consumption, raw or cooked, guarantees you vitality and well-being. Enjoy it from time to time to vary your menus.

Beet is available all year round and can be eaten raw, grated or cooked. It is delicious when simply cooked in water or oven, or pan-fried and spicy.

Choosing a good beet is a matter of appearance. The quality label can also guide your choice.

Storage tips

Raw or cooked, the beetroot can be preserved, after purchase, in the vegetable crisper of the refrigerator. Some additional instructions to keep all its flavor: before storing it in the fridge, cut the tops of the raw beet to leave only 3 cm of a stem; whether cooked or raw, wrap it in a paper bag or place it in an airtight box. It can be consumed within 5 days of purchase.

Beet conditioning takes three different forms, depending on the time of year: in bulk, the fresh beets, still provided with their leaves, are present on the stalls from May to October;
cooked, they are also presented in bulk but are available all year round; presented in vacuum packaging, they are kept longer.

Cooking methods

Above all, beetroot is traditionally cooked (sometimes raw). If it is often marketed in its cooked form, it is possible to prepare it yourself in the oven, poached or steamed. Its sweet flavor is wonderful in your dishes, it will brighten up with a beautiful bright pink hue. Here are some suggestions for cooking and savoring it.

Here are some techniques for cooking beetroot yourself:

• 2h30min in boiling salted water and slightly vinegared (or about 30 minutes in the pressure cooker).
• To check the cooking of the beets, do not do as for the potato, by planting the tip of a knife in his flesh: they lose their juice. Instead, rub the skin around the stem: it should come off easily.
• 1h to 1h30min (depending on their size) in the oven at 180 ° C or under the ash, wrapped in aluminum foil. At the end of the cooking, the skin will be crumpled and the flesh melting.
• 25 minutes steaming-Add a small piece of beetroot to the cooking water of pasta or rice to make them see life in pink!