9 ways to enjoy beets (without cooking them!)

Beetroot is a fruit with a lot of presence and character. It is the sweet of the earth. Its very special shape, the intensity of its color and its great energy and nutritional contribution make it an essential food in our seasonal kitchen.

In this article I invite you to discover raw beets. It is very curious because in Spain, and in many other countries, beets generally arrive packaged and cooked. That’s how many people know her, although she may in season find yourself raw It is not known that the plant has edible leaves and neither that it can be eaten uncooked.

When the beetroot enters our bodies it is as if it reminds us of how intense we can become in life.

Health benefits of beets

There are many varieties of beets: white, yellow, orange and striped. Each one has its qualities, and even its leaves are also a great foodboth in mini shoot and in large leaf.

Here we will focus on the red or purple varietywith which we are most familiar, and which it can be round or elongated.

Antioxidant red. Its color is due to the presence of the antioxidant pigment called betanin, so intense that it is capable of staining our urine or feces. protective effect. Beetroot, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, is a natural ally to preserve vision and cardiovascular health. It is rich in mineral salts, vitamins and trace elements. Restorative. It also acts against fatigue, lack of appetite and anemia, thanks to micronutrients that revitalize red blood cells and rebalance iron levels in the blood.

Beetroot is rich in iron and folic acid.

Raw beets in the kitchen: fill your recipes with red hot

beetroot, Being sweet, it gives a lot of play in countless recipes. And fill them with color! Here I propose that you incorporate it raw, to take advantage of all its nutritional power and flavor.

Read Also: 6 foods to integrate and 6 to avoid in your anti-inflammatory diet

Raw beets in salads. add it grated like carrot. It goes well with apple, green leaves, capers, ginger, cumin, coriander… Beet juice: a pleasure to discover. It is a very good way to incorporate its energy directly into our veins as if it were blood. If beetroot juice alone is too powerful for you, dilute it with water, or combine it with carrot, apple, orange, turmeric, ginger juice… You can also try this delicious combination of beetroot, carrot, cucumber, and celery. Beet pâté: an original and very healthy starter. Crush the grated beetroot with activated sunflower seeds, lemon, tamari and cumin. It is to lick your fingers. Here is the detailed recipe. Stay with the technique, because instead of pipes, they can be cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds. You can also add any other seasoning. The pâtés are ideal for spreading or filling. Beetroot soups or gazpachos. Another option to take the beetroot in liquid format and very simple: crush the beetroot with something liquid and whatever you want, for example the same ingredients of the gazpacho. Or with apple, avocado and other vegetables, as in this living beetroot and apple soup. Dehydrated beets for snacking. You can prepare it sliced or grated, alone or seasoned, to make some crispy chips. Another idea is to pre-season these chips with whatever you like for a new flavor. Powdered beetroot for seasoning. you can also grind and turn into powder. This beetroot powder can be used later as a condiment or as an ingredientand you can even color what you want or decorate your dishes. Beetroot, a natural dye. a bit of beetroot tint any recipe. Try it on falafels, vegetable cheeses, burgers, pizza dough… Ferments seasoned with beetroot. You can make with it sauerkraut, pickles or a second fermentation of kefir or kombucha. Enjoy a bubbly ferment to toast. Beet desserts. Thanks to its sweetness, we can also incorporate it into our pastries. For example, shred it with dried coconut, dates and lemon zest. You process it all and you will have a moldable consistency with which to make fresh truffles, or the base of a cake to which you later put a rich and classic cashew cream.