Beet

A beet (beetroot in the UK) is the round root of the beet plant, sweet and earthy, most often deep red-purple but also golden or striped pink and white. You can eat it raw and grated, roasted, boiled or pickled, and the leaves can be cooked like chard. It stains hands, boards and clothes a bright pink-red.

How to do it

To roast:

1. Scrub the beets and trim the leaves, leaving about 2 cm (1 inch) of stem so they do not bleed.
2. Wrap them in foil, alone or in a small group with a splash of oil.
3. Roast at 200°C (400°F) for 45 to 75 minutes, depending on size.
4. Let them cool a little, then rub the skins off with a paper towel.

To boil, simmer whole, unpeeled beets in salted water for 30 to 60 minutes. Then peel them the same way.

How to tell it is done

A thin knife or skewer slides into the middle of the biggest beet with no resistance, like a cooked potato.

How to use it

The same vegetable has different names:

• Beet or beets in the US and Canada. American recipes also say red beet or table beet to tell it apart from sugar beet, which is grown to make sugar.
• Beetroot in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.
• Rödbeta in Sweden, where pickled beets are common on the Christmas table.

Sizes vary a lot. A medium beet is about 150 to 200 g.

How to store it

Cut the leaves off, leaving 2 cm of stem, and store the roots in a bag in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks. Cook the leaves within 2 days. Cooked beets keep 4 to 5 days in the fridge.

Common mistakes

• Peeling before cooking whole. The color and juice leak out. Peel after.
• Cutting on a wooden board you care about. Use a plastic board or lay down parchment, and wear gloves.
• Mixing red beets into a dish too early. Everything turns pink. Add them last, or cook golden beets separately.

In recipes

You will see "2 medium beets, roasted and diced", "500 g raw beetroot, grated" and "pickled beetroot". Pickled beets give Swedish sillsallad (herring salad) its color.