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Home · Ingredients · Beetroot
Beetroot
Produce · Pn

Beetroot

87.6% water · 43 kcal

Per 100 g
43 kcal Energy
1.6 g Protein
9.6 g Carbs
0.2 g Fat
2.8 g Fibre
Gluten-free October to March GI 0

Let’s cook with it → Invent something with it

What it is for

They bring water, fibre, acid and colour. Most are 80–95% water, and much of cooking them is really about managing that water.

Where it catches you out

Under a lid they cook in their own water; in a crowded pan they steam. If you want colour, give them room and take the lid off.

The knack

The betalain that gives the colour brightens in acid, browns in alkali and leaks into water. Boil it whole with the skin and a thumb of stalk left on, then peel: a cut beetroot leaves its colour in the pan rather than on the plate.

Storage and health

How to keep it, and who it suits.

Keeping it

With the leaves cut off, the root keeps two to three weeks in the salad drawer; boiled, four days covered. Leave the leaves on and the root feeds them its water and goes limp.

Gluten-free

A root vegetable contains no gluten.

Glycaemic index

0 — glucose is taken as 100. Below 55 is low, 56–69 medium, 70 and above high. The number says nothing about portion: at the same index, twice the amount is twice the load.

Same family

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