By Marsha McCormick
SNAP-Ed Program Assistant
OSU Extension, Adams County
Recent beets can be found now at our native farmer’s market and can be for the subsequent few months. Each the roots and greens are edible and nutritious so there are lots of methods to incorporate them in your food plan. The commonest deep coloured reddish purple backyard beets are sometimes eaten boiled, both as a sizzling facet dish or chilly in a salad after cooking and including oil and vinegar. They will also be eaten uncooked, microwaved, steamed, or roasted. Roasting root greens like beets brings out extra of their pure sweetness and has develop into a favourite cooking method. My favourite method to eat beets is so as to add pickled beets to a salad.
Beets are very nutrient-dense and are an excellent supply of a number of nutritional vitamins and minerals. Whereas increased in sugar than many different greens, their sugar content material is just like a serving of many fruits and doesn’t considerably elevate blood sugar ranges for most individuals. Beets are excessive within the B-vitamin folate which is believed to supply coronary heart well being advantages by decreasing irritation in our our bodies. One cup of cooked beets comprises about 50 energy and two grams of fiber to allow them to assist with wholesome weight administration. Beets are excessive in antioxidants that are essential for his or her cancer-fighting properties. In addition they comprise inorganic nitrates that are related to wholesome veins and decrease blood stress ranges.
Beet greens might be eaten uncooked in salads, after eradicating the stems, or cooked as you’d different greens. If together with your entire stem in your beet greens, remember they may take longer to prepare dinner than the greens, so chop and prepare dinner the stems first and add the greens throughout the previous few minutes of cooking. A more moderen frequent pattern in some cultures is to make use of uncooked beet greens as leaf wraps for meat.
The greens of beets are excessive in nutritional vitamins Okay, C, and A. They’re additionally an excellent supply of copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, and iron. Beet greens are excessive in carotenoids together with beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin which provide many eye well being advantages together with reducing the chance of cataracts and age- associated macular degeneration. In reality, the beet greens are a superb supply of many vitamins and are amongst among the most nutrient-dense greens. The following time you buy beets, search for these with the greens connected and eat the entire plant for good diet.
For extra info, please contact Marsha McCormick on the Adams County Extension Workplace, (937) 544-2339, or e-mail me at mccormick.3@osu.edu. Remember to try the pickled beets and eggs recipe and lots of others at celebrateyourplate.org.
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