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January lends itself so well to the plant of the month. We are all hunkering down, still in the throws of winter.  Plants, like beets, will be drawing on the stored energy in their taproots, for the extra nourishment they need to push themselves toward spring growth. It can be a similar useful food source for us! The common beetroot is such a wholesome, nutritious and wonderfully medicinal food and medicine, and can be used in lots of warming winter dishes. I feel hungry just thinking about a delicious rooty soup using this fine ingredient!

I have two recipes to offer, but first let’s look at/ remind you of some of the wonderful constituents which make this root so health giving and important in our daily diet!

It is the rich pigments and ‘earthy sweetness’ which provide the wonderful revitalising actions of beets and make it so popular worldwide as food and medicine. The vibrant deep red to golden yellow colour of beetroot is produced by Betalains -nitrogen containing pigments, with health giving properties. This colourful, enlarged taproot is rich in minerals-including magnesium, potassium, iron and some calcium, silica, zinc and selenium, vitamins, including A and B vits,, amino acids (a more nutritious alternative to the tatty?) dietary nitrates and flavonoids. There is some oxalate in the root, so caution may be required, if someone is oxalate sensitive, however, cooking and discarding the water or fermenting both reduce the levels and the amount is much less than in the leaves of other oxalate containing vegetables like spinach.

So what are the advantages of including beetroot as a regular part of our daily diet? Beetroot is a classic tonic for the blood, suggested by the rich red colour, powerfully antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. ‘Naturally occurring nitrates in beets, are converted into nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide helps to relax and dilate the blood vessels, improving blood flow and lowering blood pressure….. Nitric oxide also improves oxygen uptake within the body, making beetroot a favourable food with athletes for improving endurance and stamina during exercise’. (Herbal Reality.com)

In addition to the heart and blood circulation benefits and its impressive nutrient profile, beetroot helps support and protect the liver and constituents in these powerful roots can help to improve blood sugar and lipid balance in ‘Metabolic syndrome’. Vitamin A can help guard against issues such as macular degeneration and cataracts and the silica, by helping the body utilise calcium, is an important component for ‘musculo-skeletal health’. Wow, and that is not an exhaustive list!

NB. There is some interesting research being undertaken connecting beetroot and its impressive anti-oxidant profile, with improvement in diseases such as dementia!

Two delicious recipes which use this vegetable are; a hearty winter soup recipe and a lacto-fermented drink, with spices to warm the cockles!

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Hearty Winter Soup           

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Chop an onion, sauté in olive oil, until translucent.

Add 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, fine chopped and sauté for a further minute.

Add 2 or more cups of bone broth, stock, or water and stock cube, per person.

Add chopped beetroot (I use 3 beets for a medium panful of soup) and any other seasonal vegetables, eg, carrots, cabbage celery, parsnips.

Suggestions for extras for boosting nutrients and taste.

      Add a handful of dried or fresh mushrooms, any kind.

      Add sprinkling of dried seaweed or more!

      1 tbsp of herbal vinegar eg sage, or fire cider/ or red wine vinegar.

Add generous amounts of antioxidant seasoning herbs eg., bay leaf, thyme, basil, dill and salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil and simmer for at least 1 hour, leave to cool and sit overnight, so that the flavours can meld.

Reheat the next day and serve with yoghurt or sour cream, if desired.

This recipe can be adapted in many ways. Based on a recipe by Susun Weed

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Beetroot Kvass- A fermented beetroot drink with added warming spices-

Adapted from a recipe by Lisa Ganora

Ingredients for a ½ litre Mason jar

Salt- enough to make a 1 1/2% salt solution eg for 400ml of water it would be 6 ml, or go with a rounded tsp!

Water-400m  approx. spring water, filtered water or boiled and cooled tap water.

Beetroot- rinsed and not peeled, cut into about 2cm/1/2’’ cubes. Enough to half fill the jar

Starter- this can be some of the liquid from a previously made/bought Kvass or sauerkraut. About 1 dessertspoonful.

Added herbs and spices eg coriander or caraway seeds (lightly crushed), ¼ to a ½ tsp juniper berries ½ tsp black peppercorns, bay leaf.

Method

Make sure mason jar is extremely clean/ sterilised

Add the chopped beets to half fill the jar.

Add the chosen spices.

Make up the salt solution, approx. 400ml

Pour the starter ferment then the salt solution into the jar, leave 2 to 3cm gap at the top of the jar to prevent leakage with the fermentation process.

Lid, releasing the thread by about a quarter turn, to allow gases to escape.

Ferment at room temperature, It will likely take around 3 to 5 days to reach a good Kvass taste-tangy and slightly effervescent. You can then put it in the fridge, where the ferment will continue very slowly or strain and store in the fridge.

Lisa Ganora says, use the same beet pieces again for a second ferment and then put the discarded beet pieces into a soup, stew or similar.

Also remember to save a little of the fermented drink to use in the next batch!

Enjoy!

Resources

Ganora, L,. On-line, membership only access resource, Phytosapiens; 2026

Weed S,. Abundently Well, Ash Tree Publishing 2019

Herbal Reality, on-line resource; https://www.herbalreality.com/herb/beetroot/