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