Rewarding, easy to grow beetroot

BEETROOT ( Beta vulgaris var. esculenta) is an easy-to-grow veggie, suitable as a salad ingredient (cooked or raw), as a dramatic colour contrast between other root vegetables roasted with olive oil and fresh herbs, and also used raw as a healthy ingredient in juices and smoothies.

There are different types of beetroot, including “Bull’s Blood”, an extra-dark red beet; “Yellow Globe”, a golden yellow one; “Albino White”, an extrasweet white type without the earthy taste; “Crimson Globe”, a normal beet; “Rainbow Mix”, an assortment of all the colours above; and “Chioggia”, with red flesh interspersed with white concentric circles.

Any coffee shop worth its salt will nowadays offer a delicious beetroot drink as a healthy and detoxifying appetiser served before breakfast or brunch – the colour in the glass might appear a bit bloody, but the taste is divine!

Hip youngsters also report that they drink a homemade beetroot cocktail after working out at the gym to restore their energy. Here is one version, straight from the horse’s mouth:

In a juicer/blender combine:

A handful of young, fresh beets (peeled and chopped) 1 small red apple (cored chopped) 2 celery sticks (chopped) 2 lemons (squeezed roughly) About 5 cm length of fresh ginger (chopped) Blend together and enjoy!

THE leaves of beetroot can be eaten as well, either cooked as spinach or chopped up in salads, which gives this veggie a double advantage. It also takes up very little space in the garden and could be planted amongst flowers, as long as you have deeply cultivated, loamy soil enriched with compost.

Or you can grow your beets in pots filled with good-quality, well-draining potting soil.

Seeds can be sown in all but the coldest winter months.

To ensure a sustainable harvest, sow a few seeds every 4-6 weeks. Keep the soil moist until germination, and thin out the young seedlings to grow about 10-15 cm apart – any closer together and the roots will turn woody.

After thinning out, the young leaves of excess seedlings can be used in salads or stir-fries.