Beetroot in Several Guises

November 4, 2003

A Lincolnshire beetroot grower farmer recently hit the headlines when he revealed the vegetable has aphrodisiac qualities.

Chris Moore scored £126,000 in government grants to market the 7000 tonnes of beetroot he grows annually on his 1200-acre property.

"The lads here swear by beetroot,‚" he told The Guardian. "Some of them even eat it for breakfast. Beetroot may have a bit of an image problem with some folk, but in fact it's very high in the mineral boron, which is thought to influence the production of human sex hormones."

He said beetroot are also supposed to improve brainpower and the immune system.

Mr Moore's curiosity was sparked on holiday in Pompeii, Italy, last year. "My wife and I were wandering around, and on the wall of an ancient brothel, I made out a picture of a beetroot,‚" he said.

His subsequent investigations revealed ancient civilizations regarded the vegetable as having aphrodisiac properties.

Maybe it is no coincidence Mr Moore was voted the Sexiest Farmer in the North of England by the National Farmers' Union three years ago. However, he hasn't revealed how much beetroot he consumes. In those early days it was the beetroot leaves that were consumed. Only later were the roots eaten. Hannah Glasse, in the 1758 edition of her book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy gives just one recipe for beetroot - boiled, skinned, sliced and steeped in vinegar, the sort of beetroot most of us are familiar with. Hardly sexy.

When hamburgers hit New Zealand, the Kiwi version often included a slice of pickled beetroot. It was also an indicator of the age of sandwiches sitting in the coffee bar cabinet as the red juices seeped into the bread. Beetroot got a bad name.

However, as with most fashion, things have gone full circle and beetroot has gained a new respectability. Baby beets lend their colour to intricate chefly plate displays. Larger beets are turned into various permutations of the vegetable de jour, hot and cold. Small beets are an ideal addition to a dish of oven roasted vegetables. Raw beets are also a good salad ingredient and the leaves are finding their way back into favour again.

Beetroot are a good source of folate, provide some fibre, have small amounts of iron and contain B group vitamins and Vitamin C. They also contain anti-oxidants. The leaves are a good source of calcium.

Beetroot with horseradish

2 cooked beetroot
1/2 cup thick Greek-style yoghurt
2 tbsp horseradish sauce
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
finely snipped chives and garlic chives

Dice the cooked beetroot and place in a serving dish. Whisk together the yoghurt. horseradish sauce, vinegar and salt. Stir in half the chopped chives. Pour over the beetroot and garnish with the remaining chives. Serve.

IN THEIR book The Gentle Art of Cookery (published in 1925), Mrs C F Leyel and Miss Olga Hartley gave the following version of an old French salad. You can use a grapefruit knife to hollow out the cups and substitute couple of teaspoons of anchovy paste - the sort that comes in a tube - for the anchovy. Rest the filled slices on a double thickness of paper towel before placing on the serving dish.

Beetroot Salad

Take a large cooked beetroot, cut it up into thick round slices. Hollow out a cup in the middle of each slice and put them to steep in tarragon vinegar for a few hours.

Hard boil one egg, add to it one anchovy, one gherkin, a few capers and a little parsley. Chop them all very finely. Mix them with a little oil and vinegar and fill each hollow in the slice of beetroot with this mixture. Arrange them carefully in a silver dish with pieces of whole parsley.

I BOUGHT a nice bunch of beetroot about 3cm in diameter the other day. They came complete with the leaves. As they were very fresh and not too large, I removed them from the roots, washed them well and stored them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until required.

Beetroot Leaves with Capsicum

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 red capsicum
1 yellow capsicum
a large bunch of beetroot leaves, well washed
1 tbsp light olive oil
3 tbsp verjuice
1 tsp sesame oil
Maldon sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Core and slice the peppers. Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick pan , add the garlic and cook for a minute then add the peppers and cook a further two minutes then add the beetroot leaves.

Turn them over a few times as they cook, to mix them with the capsicum slices. Cook until wilted, sprinkle with the verjuice and sesame oil, season to taste with Maldon sea salt and freshly ground pepper and serve.