When people are asked to name their favourite root vegetables, beetroots, aka garden beet, might not be most people’s first choice. However, they are my favourite because they’re jam-packed with nutrients and taste so fresh when prepared right.
Before I moved to the UK, I never had eaten beetroot. After living in the UK for several years, beets still weren’t on my radar. Only three years ago, I taught myself how to bake. One day, I came across a recipe calling for beetroot. I used the quantity required in that recipe but still had a lot of fresh beets left. So, I steamed them and added them to my salad. Then the rest is history. Beets to me are love at first bite; their taste was like sunshine for the soul — sweet and earthy.
Since then, I have included beets regularly in my diet. It’s a very versatile ingredient, too. From pickles, dips, pasta, vegan burgers, soups, and cakes to smoothies, you can use beets to make those everyday dishes. Moreover, this root vegetable has a natural red food colouring that gives the dish a nice bright finish.
So, in this post, I want to share my go-to beetroot soup recipe with a mix of apples and carrots. It’s simple, super healthy and filled with comforting flavours — a perfect soup to warm up a cold day!
Beet varieties
Beetroots are a very hearty and productive crop. They can be divided into two main types based on their roots’ shape.
- globe/round beetroots (short-rooted)
- oval/long beetroots (long-rooted)
Normally, oval/long beets cook quicker than globe/round beets.
They can be divided further into different varieties. The most common variety grown in the UK is ‘boltardy’. This variety produces deep-red flesh and medium round-shaped roots with smooth skin. The table below shows some common beet varieties.
| Variety | root shape | root size | flesh colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| action | globe | small | dark red |
| blankoma | globe | medium | white |
| boldor | globe | small to medium | orange or yellow |
| boltardy | globe | medium | dark red |
| chioggia | globe | large | red & white rings |
| cylindra | oval | medium | dark red |
| merlin | globe | medium | dark red |
| red ace | globe or oval | medium | deep dark red |
Beetroot can also be categorised based on its flesh colour. For instance, red, striped, golden and white beets etc.
Beet greens
Do you always discard beet greens and only eat the root part? Do you know that beetroots were first grown for their leaves, not roots? Beetroots are believed to originate from the Mediterranean Sea area, and they were cultivated for their leaves around 300 BC. However, in 1542, Europeans started consuming the root part of the beet. The type of beetroot also only began to take its modern shape in the 16th century.
Beet greens have two parts, namely stems and leaves. They’re both edible. Though certain beet varieties are better for beet greens, such as early wonder tall top and bull’s blood, because they produce sweeter stems and more tender foliage.
The greens are very easy to cook and taste delicious. Before cooking them, wash them properly because sometimes beet leaves can be sandy. Then remove the leaves from the stems and chop them separately. Add a bit of olive oil and simply sauté them. But make sure you cook stems for 3 to 4 minutes first, then add the leaves later because stems take longer to cook through. You can often cook the leaves the same way you would cook spinach.
If you can never have enough beet greens in your diet or it’s hard to buy beetroots with beet greens still attached, then you can go for swiss chard. Swiss chards are beets’ leafy brothers and share a common ancestor, the sea beet. Moreover, their greens taste similar to each other. However, people don’t usually eat chard roots because they lack the sweetness found in beetroots.
Beetroots’ health benefits
Beetroots are a nutritional powerhouse. They are a rich source of vitamin C, potassium and magnesium. Their red colour shows that they’re very high in antioxidants, too. They also have a high concentration of folate (vitamin B9) and dietary nitrates. Last but not least, they even have higher iron than spinach.
Beets have been used as a medicine in some cultures going back thousands of years. And they continuously give us a lot of health benefits when consumed regularly in our diet. The benefits include:
- lower blood pressure
- reduce inflammation
- regulate blood sugar
- support liver health
- improve gut health
- enhance physical exercise performance
- neutralise free radicals and make our skin more glowing
If you’re trying to get fitter, go for beetroots. They are low in calories but are filling because they’re fibre-rich root vegetables. So, they can increase the feeling of fullness even if you just have a small portion of them. Also, beetroot pulp is a good home remedy for an upset stomach.
Beetroot and apple soup
Equipment
- 1 immersion blender (or food processor)
- 1 saucepan with a lid
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 medium-sized beetroots, peeled, sliced & roughly chopped (they make up around 9 cups of beets once peeled) (see *note 1)
- 1 cooking apple, peeled & roughly chopped (around 1.5 cups)
- 2 carrots, peeled & roughly chopped (around 1.5 cups)
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1½ tsp ginger, grated
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 vegetable stock (dissolve it in 500ml boiling water)
- some spring onions (optional)
Instructions
- Remove the beet greens if your beetroots come with them. Save the beet greens for another recipe.
- Rinse the roots with cold water and wash them thoroughly.
- Peel the skin. Make sure you wear an apron when doing this because beetroots flesh could stain your clothes easily.
- Roughly chop the roots once peeled. Then, steam them in a steamer or roast them in an oven if you prefer. You can even steam/roast the beetroot the day before to save you some cooking time the next day.
- I always use a Tatung ricer cooker to steam my beetroots. It only takes around 20 minutes to get them ready, and the metal pot inside the ricer cooker can catch all the beetroot juice, which I can have later.
- Roughly chop onion, apple, carrots, and spring onions while steaming/roasting the beetroots.
- Once the beetroots are cooked, then it's time to make the soup.
- Heat the oil in the saucepan, add chopped onions, and fry until the onion is soft.
- Add chopped carrots and fry for a minute or two. Add a splash of vegetable stock if the pan gets too dry.
- Add grated garlic and ginger, and fry for a minute.
- Add chopped apples.
- Add steamed/roasted beetroots, and mix well with other ingredients in the pan.
- Add vegetable stock. (see *note 2)
- Add spring onions and mix again. (optional)
- Add salt, pepper and bay leaves and a bit of more vegetable stock to make sure the liquid is slightly above all the ingredients in the pot.
- Turn the heat down and put the lid on. Let the soup cook for another 15 – 20 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and discard the bay leaves. Once the soup cools down a bit, blend it.
- Taste the soup and add salt and pepper if needed.