The Versatile Beet

My favorite restaurant in St. Louis is the Cafe Osage. The Café Osage is part of an urban farm complex. This urban farm complex is associated with the local organic Bowood farm located in Clarksville, MO. My friends and I often enjoy a visit to the urban greenhouse and gift shop. The urban farm is an island of green, two city blocks of green houses, a vegetable garden and a roof top herb garden, in the middle of a transitional neighborhood of old Victorian homes.

Urban farming is a wonderful new trend. Many of the vegetables used in the dishes at Café Osage are grown in their 1/4 acre garden across the street. The café also receives many plants and vegetables from the 4th generation Clarksville family farm. You can take a tour of the rooftop herb garden where all the fresh herbs used at the café are grown.

I tried Café Osage’s fantastic beet salad. I gave myself the challenge of tying to replicate this pickled beet salad. After a quick check I find this beet salad is no longer on the menu. So if you are a beet lover like I am you will need to perfect your own version of this recipe.

West End Beet Salad

Ingredients

◦                2 cans of sliced pickled beets (if you use fresh beets, 8 medium-sized, the flavor will be milder and you will need to bake them first—beets are not meant to be hard) 

◦                1/4 cup celery

◦                1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots

◦                1/4 cup minced onions

        Mix together dressing in separate bowl

◦                1/2 cup sour cream/ or plain yogurt

◦                3 teaspoon prepared white horseradish  (use less horseradish for a milder flavor)

◦                2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1.               Use canned beets or, for fresh beets the best way to peel/cook beets is Baked Beets recipe (http://www.recipezaar.com/251586). Wrap each beet in a square of tin foil and bakes them at 400 degrees for a hour to an hour and a half. When beets are cool enough to handle, just slip the skins off.

2.              Slice, dice or chop the beets

3.              Place all the ingredients in a serving bowl, add the dressing and mix gently but thoroughly.

4. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours to let the flavors marinate

BENEFITS OF BEETS

1. The ancient Romans used beets as an aphrodisiac
2. Beets are high in many vitamins and minerals
3. Beets cleanse the body
4. Beets help your mental health
5. Beets are a high source of energy
6. Nutritionists use beets and beet juice to test stomach acid levels—if you pee pink your stomach acid is too low
7. High in potassium
8. Helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol, helps protect against heart disease
9. Have been used it to get rid of tumors, help blood diseases and leukemia.
10.  Used to treat and boils, abscesses and even acne
11.  Help cleanse the blood and the colon, and strengthen the gall bladder and liver

In my herbal studies program one of the first herbs I was introduced to was the beet top (beet greens.) But how can you discuss the beet top without discussing the beet itself. Beets are excellent blood cleansers. They cleanse the liver, work as a blood purifier, and demonstrate anti-cancer properties.

Beets contain high amounts of boron, which is directly related to the production of human sex hormones. They are very beneficial to pregnant women. The vitamin B, folic acid, and iron are beneficial to new growth cells and beets help replenishing iron in the woman’s body.

Beets contain betaine, which has been used for treatment of depression. They contain trytophan, which enhances a sense of well-being and calms the nervous system. Beets demonstrate properties that lower blood pressure. They are low in calories and high in a form of sugar, which is released into your system gradually making then very beneficial to the diabetic individual.

Beets are high in many vitamins and minerals including potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorus, iron; vitamins A, B & C; beta-carotene, beta-cyanine; folic acid, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, niacin, thiamin, calcium, copper, phosphorous and zinc. Although beets are high in sodium, they're also high in potassium too and one cup contains over 14 percent of the recommended daily amount.

A study investigated animals with induced high cholesterol and colon cancer. Those that ate a diet consisting heavily of beet fiber displayed increased numbers of CD8 cells in their colons. CD8 cells help eliminate abnormal cells, such as cancer. The beet fiber group displayed a lower incidence of precancerous changes. It was discovered that the animals fed beets had a drop of 30 percent in total cholesterol with the triglycerides dropping a 40 percent while HDL levels, good cholesterol, increased.

A study of nitrosamines revealed beet juice inhibits their formation. Nitrosamines come from the ingestion and breakdown of nitrates found in preserved, processed meat Nitrosamines are known to induce the creation of cancerous cells. Beet juice is a powerful inhibitor of cell mutation caused by nitrosamines.

According to and article by Detopoulou P, Panagiotakos DB, et al. in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" people with a high intake of betaine, a substance found in beets, had lower inflammatory markers.

BEETS ARE VERSATILE

They are low calorie and all parts of the beet provide good nutrition. Add some of the leaves the next time you make stir-fry or drink a glass of beet juice for your health. Beets can be eaten raw or you can boil, steam roast or sauté them. Raw beets can be easily juiced. If you enjoy your beets cooked, wash the exterior thoroughly and put it in boiling water. Leave the top and skin, to preserve all the wonderful nutrient of the beet, and remove them later. If you want the benefits of beet juice but can not drinking it straight mix it with some carrot or apple juice for a milder taste. The raw beet leaves are a wonderful addition to salad. The leaves have been known to counter "garlic" breath.

http://healthfood-guide.com/HealthBenefitsOfBeets.aspx

http://beetsnutrition.com/health-benefits-of-beets.html

http://www.bowoodfarms.com/