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| Russian Cold Borscht (Beet Soup) |
Russia's Best Known Soup
Russian Cold Borscht (Beet Soup) Version #1
Yield: 8-10.
2 bunches fresh beets
9 c. cold water
6 tbsp. sugar or equivalent sugar substitute
1 tsp. salt
Juice of 2 med. lemons
Wash, trim and peel the beets. Shred them into a saucepan and add the water. Bring to a boil, skim off foam that will form, and simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes or until the beets are very tender.
Strain the liquid and reserve the shredded beets or puree the beets in your processor or blender, whichever you prefer.
Stir the sugar, lemon juice and salt into the liquid. Add the beets. Cool slightly. Beat the egg yolks well and pour 2 cups of the partially cooled beet soup gradually into the yolks, stirring constantly. If you don’t stir constantly you will end up with beet scrambled eggs.
This is to prevent eggs from curdling. Add remaining soup and blend. Adjust seasonings. Chill. When ready to serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with a dollop of crème fraiche.
This is probably Russia's best known soup. There are as many variations of this beet soup (hot, cold, with or without meat, etc.) as there are cooks. This recipe is perfect for a summer brunch, luncheon or dinner or serve warm by reheating for cold winter night. The first time I ate borscht was in college it’s like dieing and going to heaven.
Borscht Russian Tea Room Version #2
Yield: 6
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
6 cups of beef or chicken consommé
1 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
3/4 cup thinly sliced celery
3/4 cup thinly sliced onions
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cup julienne-stripped raw beets
Salt & pepper, if needed
2 teaspoon red wine vinegar (optional)
1/4 cup minced fresh dill weed
Crème fraiche
Direction
Pour consommé into a large soup kettle. Add tomato sauce, cabbage, celery, carrots, and onions.
Bring to boil; turn heat to low. Skim soup. Simmer covered for ten minutes or until vegetables are tender, but with shape. Stir in sugar and add beets. Skim as needed. Simmer covered for 10 minutes or until beets are tender.
Check seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in vinegar, if using it. Turn soup into a tureen or 6 individual soup bowls. Sprinkle with dill. Serve hot with Crème fraiche on the side.
Russian Beef Borscht Version #3
Preparation time: 2 hours
Yield: 6-8
Ingredients
2 lbs. beef tenderloin or sirloin steak, cut up
5 to 6 c. water
1 tbsp. salt
1 1/2 c. shredded beets
3/4 c. shredded carrots
2 turnips, finely chopped
1 med. onion
2 tbsp. tomato puree
2 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 sm. head cabbage, shredded
Ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
1 cup of Crème fraiche
Directions
Simmer the beef in salted water until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, in large saucepan, simmer the beets, carrots, turnips, onion, tomato puree, vinegar, sugar and butter for 15 minutes.
Stir frequently and cover when not stirring. Add cabbage and cook 10 minutes longer. Add the vegetable mixture, pepper and bay leaves to the meat and the broth.
Adjust seasonings, cook until tender. Add more vinegar if desired. Before serving, add Crème fraiche to taste.
Ukranian Beef Borscht Version #4
Preparation time: 3 hours
Yield: 6 to 8
Ingredients
2 lb. meaty soup meat (like shank or brisket)
7 or 8 cups of water
1/2 bunch beets
1 pound of red new potatoes
1 pound green cabbage
1 small can tomato paste
6 slices bacon, chopped
1 teaspoons of vinegar
2 tablespoon of avocado oil
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 #303-can peeled tomatoes, drained or 3 peeled fresh tomatoes
1 large onion, sliced
1 stalk celery
2 tablespoons of flour
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Dill to taste
Chopped parsley
1 cup of Crème fraiche
Directions
Cover meat with water and simmer until tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile peel beets and slice julienne style.
Sauté beets and chopped bacon and tomato paste for about 30 minutes. Add vinegar when beets are soft; add 1-2 tablespoons meat stock or warm water if beets look dry.
In another skillet, brown in the avocado oil the peeled and finely sliced carrots, onion and celery. Slowly sprinkle the flour over the top of the browned vegetables and carefully stir. Add about 3 tablespoons meat stock and bring it to a quick boil. Remove from heat.
When meat is soft, remove from stock and cool slightly. Cut it up into bite size pieces, removing all fat, bone.
Add beet and bacon mixture, peeled and quartered potatoes, and cut up cabbage to meat stock. Cook slowly for 15 minutes.
Add remaining browned vegetables and all the seasonings except the garlic powder, and cook until the potatoes and cabbage are soft.
Add cut up tomatoes. Sprinkle meat with garlic powder and return to the stock. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let the soup stand for 15 to 20 minutes.
Or you can refrigerate for 2-3 days, skim off hardened fat, heat slowly and serve with a dollop of the Crème fraîche and sprinkle some chopped parsley over the top.
If you wish to freeze the soup, omit the potatoes and cook them separately and add them to the stock when you are heating it to serve. This recipe doubles nicely.
Note-Crème fraîche is produced by a process similar to that of sour cream. Each processing step requires attention to maintain high viscosity. It can be made at home by adding a small amount of cultured buttermilk or sour cream to heavy cream, and allowing it to stand for several hours at room temperature until the bacterial cultures act on the cream.
Beets Health Benefits
Remember all those legendary Russian centenarians? Beets, frequently consumed either pickled or in borscht, the traditional Russian soup, may be one reason behind their long and healthy lives. These colorful root vegetables contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.
Promote Optimal Health
The pigments that give beets their rich colors are called betalains. There are two basic types of betalains: betacyanins and betaxanthins. Betacyanins are pigments are red-violet in color. Betanin is the best studied of the betacyanins. Betaxanthins are yellowish in color. In light or dark red, crimson, or purple colored beets, betacyanins are the dominant pigments. In yellow beets, betaxanthins predominate, and particularly the betaxanthin called vulgaxanthin. All betalains come from the same original molecule (betalamic acid).
The addition of amino acids or amino acid derivatives to betalamic acid is what determines the specific type of pigment that gets produced. The betalain pigments in beets are water-soluble, and as pigments they are somewhat unusual due to their nitrogen content. Many of the betalains function both as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory molecules. At the same time, they themselves are also very vulnerable to oxidation (change in structure due to interaction with oxygen). In addition to beets, rhubarb, chard, amaranth, prickly pear cactus, and Nopal cactus are examples of foods that contain betalains.
It's interesting to note that humans appear to vary greatly in their response to dietary betalains. In the United States, only 10-15% of adults are estimated to be "betalain responders." A betalain responder is a person who has the capacity to absorb and metabolize enough betalains from beet (and other foods) to gain full antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and Phase 2 triggering benefits. (Phase 2 is the second step in our cellular detoxification process).
Antioxidant Benefits
What's most striking about beets is not the fact that they are rich in antioxidants; what's striking is the unusual mix of antioxidants that they contain. We're used to thinking about vegetables as rich in antioxidant carotenoids, and in particular, beta-carotene; among all well-studied carotenoids, none is more commonly occurring in vegetables than beta-carotene.
In beets, however, the "claim-to-fame" antioxidant is not beta-carotene, but two different antioxidant carotenoids, not nearly as concentrated in vegetables as a group. These two carotenoids are lutein and zeaxanthin. Similarly, when it comes to antioxidant phytonutrients that give most red vegetables their distinct color, we've become accustomed to thinking about anthocyanins.
(Red cabbage, for example, gets it wonderful red color primarily from anthocyanins.) Once again, beets demonstrate their antioxidant uniqueness by getting their red color primarily from betalain antioxidant pigments (and not primarily from anthocyanins). Coupled with their status as a good source of the antioxidant vitamin C and a very good source of the antioxidant manganese, the unique phytonutrients in beets provide antioxidant support in a different way than other antioxidant-rich vegetables.
While research is largely in the early stage with respect to beet antioxidants and their special benefits for eye health and overall nerve tissue health, we expect to see study results showing these special benefits and recognizing beets as a standout vegetable in this area of antioxidant support.
Anti-Inflammatory Benefits
Many of the unique phytonutrients present in beets have been shown to function as anti-inflammatory compounds. In particular, this anti-inflammatory activity has been demonstrated for betanin, isobetanin, and vulgaxanthin.
One mechanism allowing these phytonutrients to lessen inflammation is their ability to inhibit the activity of cyclo-oxygenase enzymes (including both COX-1 and COX-2). The COX enzymes are widely used by cells to produce messaging molecules that trigger inflammation.
Under most circumstances, when inflammation is needed, this production of pro-inflammatory messaging molecules is a good thing. However, under other circumstances, when the body is undergoing chronic, unwanted inflammation, production of these inflammatory messengers can make things worse. Several types of heart disease—including atherosclerosis—are characterized by chronic unwanted inflammation. For this reason, beets have been studied within the context of heart disease, and there are some encouraging although very preliminary results in this area involving animal studies and a few very small scale human studies. Type 2 diabetes—another health problem associated with chronic, unwanted inflammation—is also an area of interest in this regard, with research findings at a very preliminary stage.
In addition to their unusual betalain and carotenoid phytonutrients, however, beets are also an unusual source of betaine. Betaine is a key body nutrient made from the B-complex vitamin, choline. (Specifically, betaine is simply choline to which three methyl groups have been attached.) In and of itself, choline is a key vitamin for helping regulate inflammation in the cardiovascular system since adequate choline is important for preventing unwanted build-up of homocysteine. (Elevated levels of homocysteine are associated with unwanted inflammation and risk of cardiovascular problems like atherosclerosis.) But betaine may be even more important in regulation of our inflammatory status as its presence in our diet has been associated with lower levels of several inflammatory markers, including C reactive protein, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha. As a group, the anti-inflammatory molecules found in beets may eventually be shown to provide cardiovascular benefits in large-scale human studies, as well as anti-inflammatory benefits for other body systems.
Support of Detoxification
The betalin pigments present in beets have repeatedly been shown to support activity in our body's Phase 2 detoxification process. Phase 2 is the metabolic step that our cells use to hook activated, unwanted toxic substances up with small nutrient groups. This "hook up" process effectively neutralizes the toxins and makes them sufficiently water-soluble for excretion in the urine.
One critical "hook up" process during Phase 2 involves an enzyme family called the glutathione-S-transferase family (GSTs). GSTs hook toxins up with glutathione for neutralization and excretion from the body. The betalains found in beet have been shown to trigger GST activity, and to aid in the elimination of toxins that require glutathione for excretion. If you are a person who thinks about exposure to toxins and wants to give your body as much detox support as possible, beets are a food that belongs in your diet.
Other Health Benefits
It's important to note two other areas of potential health benefits associated with beets: anti-cancer benefits and fiber-related benefits. The combination of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecules in beets makes this food a highly-likely candidate for risk reduction of many cancer types. Lab studies on human tumor cells have confirmed this possibility for colon, stomach, nerve, lung, breast, prostate and testicular cancers. Eventually, we expect to see large-scale human studies that show the risk-reducing effect of dietary beet intake for many of these cancer types.
Beet fiber has also been a nutrient of increasing interest in health research. While many people tend to lump all food fiber into one single category called "dietary fiber," there is evidence to suggest that all dietary fiber is not the same. Beet fiber (along with carrot fiber) are two specific types of food fiber that may provide special health benefits, particularly with respect to health of our digestive tract (including prevention of colon cancer) and our cardiovascular system. Some beet fiber benefits may be due to the pectin polysaccharides that significantly contribute to the total fiber content.
Description
Both beets and Swiss chard are different varieties within the same plant family (Amaranthaceae-Chenopodiaceae) and their edible leaves share a resemblance in both taste and texture. Attached to the beet's green leaves is a round or oblong root, the part conjured up in most people's minds by the word "beet."
Although typically a beautiful reddish-purple hue, beets also come in varieties that feature white, golden/yellow or even rainbow color roots. No matter what their color, however, beet roots aren't as hardy as they look; the smallest bruise or puncture will cause red beets' red-purple pigments (which contain a variety of phytonutrients including betalains and anthocyanins) to bleed, especially during cooking.
Betalain pigments in beets are highly-water soluble, and they are also temperature sensitive. For both of these reasons, it is important to treat beets as a delicate food, even though they might seem "rock solid" and difficult to damage.
Beets' sweet taste reflects their high sugar content, which makes beets an important source for the production of refined sugar (yet, the beets that are used for sugar consumption are of a different type than the beets that you purchase in the store). Raw beet roots have a crunchy texture that turns soft and buttery when they are cooked. Beet leaves have a lively, bitter taste similar to chard. The main ingredient in the traditional eastern European soup, borscht, beets are delicious eaten raw, but are more typically cooked or pickled.
The greens attached to the beet roots are delicious and can be prepared like spinach or Swiss chard. They are incredibly rich in nutrients, concentrated in vitamins and minerals as well as carotenoids such as beta-carotene and lutein/zeaxanthin.
While beets are available throughout the year, their season runs from June through October when the youngest, most tender beets are easiest to find.
History
The wild beet, the ancestor of the beet with which we are familiar today, is thought to have originated in prehistoric times in North Africa and grew wild along Asian and European seashores. In these earlier times, people exclusively ate the beet greens and not the roots. The ancient Romans were one of the first civilizations to cultivate beets to use their roots as food. The tribes that invaded Rome were responsible for spreading beets throughout northern Europe where they were first used for animal fodder and later for human consumption, becoming more popular in the 16th century.
Beets' value grew in the 19th century when it was discovered that they were a concentrated source of sugar, and the first sugar factory was built in Poland. When access to sugar cane was restricted by the British, Napoleon decreed that the beet be used as the primary source of sugar, catalyzing its popularity. Around this time, beets were also first brought to the United States, where they now flourish. Today the leading commercial producers of beets include the United States, the Russian Federation, France, Poland, France and Germany.
How to Select and Store
Choose small or medium-sized beets whose roots are firm, smooth-skinned and deep in color. Smaller, younger beets may be so tender that peeling won't be needed after they are cooked.
Avoid beets that have spots, bruises or soft, wet areas, all of which indicate spoilage. Shriveled or flabby should also be avoided as these are signs that the roots are aged, tough and fibrous.
While the quality of the greens does not reflect that of the roots, if you are going to consume this very nutritious part of the plant, look for greens that appear fresh, tender, and have a lively green color.
Cut the majority of the greens and their stems from the beet roots, so they do not pull away moisture away from the root. Leave about two inches of the stem attached to prevent the roots from "bleeding." Do not wash beets before storing. Place in a plastic bag and wrap the bag tightly around the beets, squeezing out as much of the air from the bag as possible, and place in refrigerator where they will keep for up to 3 weeks.
Store the unwashed greens in a separate plastic bag squeezing out as much of the air as possible. Place in refrigerator where they will keep fresh for about four days.
Raw beets do not freeze well since they tend to become soft upon thawing. Freezing cooked beets is fine; they'll retain their flavor and texture.
How to Enjoy
Tips for Preparing Beets
Rinse gently under cold running water, taking care not to tear the skin, which helps keep the health-promoting pigments inside.
Since beet juice can stain your skin, wearing kitchen gloves is a good idea when handling beets. If your hands become stained during the cleaning and cooking process, simply rub some lemon juice on them to remove the stain.
Cut beets into quarters leaving 2 inches of tap root and 1 inch of stem on the beets.
The Healthiest Way of Cooking Beets
Cook beets lightly. Studies show beets' concentration of phytonutrients, such as betalains, is diminished by heat.
We recommend healthy steaming beets for 15 minutes to maximize their nutrition and flavor. Fill the bottom of the steamer with 2 inches of water and bring to a rapid boil Add beets, cover, and steam for 15 minutes. Beets are cooked when you can easily insert a fork or the tip or knife into the beet.
Peel beets by setting them on a cutting board and rubbing the skin off with a paper towel. Wearing kitchen gloves will help prevent your hands from becoming stained.
Transfer to a bowl and serve with our Mediterranean Dressing and your favorite optional ingredients. For details see 15-Minute Beets.
Beets' color can be modified during cooking. Adding an acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or vinegar will brighten the color while an alkaline substance such as baking soda will often cause them to turn a deeper purple. Salt will blunt beets' color, so add only at the end of cooking if needed.
A Few Quick Serving Ideas
Simply grate raw beets for a delicious and colorful addition to salads or decorative garnish for soups.
Healthy Boil beet greens for 1 minute for a great tasting side dish, which is very similar to Swiss chard.
Marinate steamed beets in fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh herbs.
WHFoods Recipes That Feature Beets
15-Minute Beets
Individual Concerns
Beeturia
Consumption of beets can cause urine to become red or pink in color. This condition"called beeturia"is not considered harmful. About 5-15% of U.S. adults are estimated to experience beeturia following consumption of beets in everyday amounts. One area in which beeturia may be a potential concern involves problems with iron metabolism.
Persons with iron deficiency, iron excess, or known problems with the metabolism of iron are more likely to experience beeturia. If you experience beeturia and also suspect iron deficiency, iron excess, or iron metabolism to be a problem affecting your health, we recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider to determine your best dietary and health steps.
It's possible for beet consumption to bring a red color into your bowel movements as well, although this outcome tends to be more common in children than adults. Once again, the production of a reddish color in the stool due to beets is not considered harmful.
It's important, however, to be confident that the reddening of the stool is caused by the pigments found in beets and not by the presence of fresh or dried blood. If you experience reddening of the stool and have not recently (with the past 24-48 hours) consumed beets, we recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider to determine the reason for this change in your stool color.
Beets and Oxalates
Beets (notably beet greens) are among a small number of foods that contain measurable amounts of oxalates, naturally occurring substances found in plants, animals, and human beings.
When oxalates become too concentrated in body fluids, they can crystallize and cause health problems. For this reason, individuals with already existing and untreated kidney or gallbladder problems may want to avoid eating beet greens. Laboratory studies have shown that oxalates may also interfere with absorption of calcium from the body.
Yet, in every peer-reviewed research study we've seen, the ability of oxalates to lower calcium absorption is relatively small and definitely does not outweigh the ability of oxalate-containing foods to contribute calcium to the meal plan. If your digestive tract is healthy, and you do a good job of chewing and relaxing while you enjoy your meals, you will get significant benefits—including absorption of calcium—from calcium-rich foods plant foods that also contain oxalic acid.
Ordinarily, a healthcare practitioner would not discourage a person focused on ensuring that they are meeting their calcium requirements from eating these nutrient-rich foods because of their oxalate content. For more on this subject, please see "Can you tell me what oxalates are and in which foods they can be found?"
Nutritional Profile
Beets are unique in their rich combination of betalain pigments. Both betacyanins (red-violet pigments) and betaxanthins (yellow pigments) can be found in beets. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are betalains that have gotten special attention in beet research.
Beets are also an excellent source of hearth-healthy folate and a very good source of the antioxidant manganese and heart-healthy potassium. Beets are a good source of digestive-supportive dietary fiber, free radical scavenging vitamin C and copper, bone-healthy magnesium, and energy-producing iron and phosphorus.
For an in-depth nutritional profile click here: Beets.
In-Depth Nutritional Profile
In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, an in-depth nutritional profile for Beets is also available. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.
Introduction to Food Rating System Chart
In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients.
The following chart shows the nutrients for which this food is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the food doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this food's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.)
To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance up in the top left corner where you will find the name of the food and the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition. This serving size will tell you how much of the food you need to eat to obtain the amount of nutrients found in the chart.
Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system.
Beets, Boiled
1.00 cup
170.00 grams
74.80 calories
Nutrient Amount DV
(%) Nutrient
Density World's Healthiest
Foods Rating
folate 136.00 mcg 34.0 8.2 excellent
manganese 0.55 mg 27.5 6.6 very good
potassium 518.50 mg 14.8 3.6 very good
dietary fiber 3.40 g 13.6 3.3 good
vitamin C 6.12 mg 10.2 2.5 good
magnesium 39.10 mg 9.8 2.4 good
tryptophan 0.03 g 9.4 2.3 good
iron 1.34 mg 7.4 1.8 good
copper 0.13 mg 6.5 1.6 good
phosphorus 64.60 mg 6.5 1.6 good
World's Healthiest
Foods Rating Rule
excellent DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DV>=10%
very good DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DV>=5%
good DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DV>=2.5%
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Beets
Note-Crème fraîche is produced by a process similar to that of sour cream. Each processing step requires attention to maintain high viscosity. It can be made at home by adding a small amount of cultured buttermilk or sour cream to heavy cream, and allowing it to stand for several hours at room temperature until the bacterial cultures act on the cream.
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