A dark red/purple root vegetable with a sweet earthy flavour and smooth texture. Raw beetroot can be grated, diced or sliced very thinly for salad recipes or juiced. Roasting beetroots has become popular too — they are delicious with roast beef, horseradish and cumin, or made into soup.
Availability
Raw beetroot is available in stores July to February/March, cooked or pickled beetroot in vacuum packs is available all year. Choose firm bulbs with fresh crisp stalks and leaves. Raw beetroot will keep for 2-3 weeks in the fridge, cooked beetroot will keep 3-4 days.
How to cook
Cut off the leaf stalks, leaving about 2cm otherwise the juice will leak out. Wash, but don't peel the whole beetroots. Immerse in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about one-and-a-half hours until tender when pierced with a knife or when the skin rubs off easily. To roast, place the beetroot in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake at 1600c/ fan 1400c, Gas 3 for 2 hours or until tender. Beetroots will peel easily when cooked, wear rubber gloves to protect hands from staining.