Colourful, juicy, sweet, and extremely nutritious vegetable. Packed with vitamins and minerals, it is considered as a super food. It is a great source of fibre, folate, manganese, potassium, iron, and vitamin C.
It is known to improve blood flow and lowers blood pressure.
Because of its iron content, beetroots are best known to improve haemoglobin levels in our body. They are also known to help improve insulin sensitivity in people who have diabetes, thereby reducing blood sugar levels.
This tasty vegetable was cultivated over 6000 years ago by Greeks and Romans.
Initially, beets were known and cultivated for their edible leaves by the Romans. The Greeks later followed suit and began to eat the roots as well. They called them “Teutlon” or “Teutlion” as the foliage resembles squid tentacles.
Currently, Russia is currently the largest producer of beetroot in the world.
It is not quite clear as to when this was brought to India as we also had wild beets growing for aeons in our country.
It is assumed that the Europeans were the first to introduce them to us during their invasion.
Some fun and lesser known facts about this Beetroot –
1. The entire plant is edible, while the leaves are bitter in taste, the root as we know is just as sweet and juicy.
2. Beet juice can reduce muscle soreness.
3. The biggest beet weighed 53 pounds.
4. It can improve athletic performance.
5. Beets can detoxify your body and improve your gut health.
6. Consuming beets can reduce stress levels as they contain tryptophan, which is also found in chocolates.
Beets have an earthy flavour. This is due to the presence of Geosmin in such vegetables, which gives it an earthy, floral, and sweet flavour.
Although beets didn’t originate in India, we made it our own by creating some tasty and yummy recipes. Whether it’s just as a simple curry or prepared as Kurma or in the form of sweet, famously known as “Kasi Halwa.” We have innumerable recipes made out of beetroot. But honestly, since it is naturally sweet, you do not need any kind of masala powders while preparing them. Even simple boiled beetroot without seasoning tastes just as good.
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