What to do with your superfood Beetroot Crop

If like me you like Beetroot and have a big crop in your veg patch this year, here are a few ideas on what delicious meals you could make from your superfood.

For more on Beetroot and its SUPERFOOD status you can read our previous blog here.

So what to do with your beets? You can pickle them, roast, juice them, make them in to soup, or below, use them for muffins or a power lunch of raw beetroot coleslaw.

I say power lunch because beetroot can increase your stamina by 10%. The simplest way to eat fresh beetroot is to grate it and add to ready made bought coleslaw. This is a bit of a cheat but very quick if you are busy.

Another easy recipe, and extremely popular and healthy, is Beetroot mini Muffins. Here is the recipe I used:

300g grated beetroot (I also included a little carrot)
100g of saltanas or dates
150g self raising flour
40g brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 eggs
60ml rapeseed or sunflour oil

Preheat the oven to 180ºC

Mix together the beetroot, sultanas, flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon, making sure everything is evenly combined.

In another bowl, beat together the oil and eggs

Mix everything together well, then spoon the mixture into mini muffin cases, filling almost to the top.

Bake for 25 minutes.

If you have a recipe for Beetroot please send it in and we will add it to our recipe section, or better still make a video and add it to our KIS Cookery section.

Or, if you would like to make some money from your excess crop look for shops in your area who have joined our Crop for the Shop initiative and marked on our local food map with a carrot flag.

At BigBarn we see Crop For The Shop as a brilliant way to help build local food systems that are 10 times better than a national food industry dominated by supermarkets. As we have stated many times the food industry is commoditising food and driving farmers to move away from mixed agriculture to monoculture and factory farming with decreasing animal welfare and increased use of anti-biotics and chemicals.

All reasonable if the aim is food security and cheaper, safer, healthier food for consumers. People are now realising, almost too late, that this is not the case and we are much better off, and can save money by cutting out the middle men, by buying local, fresh, seasonal, food, direct.

So please join in, and tell your local shop about us, and joining Crop for the Shop. They can get better veg than the wholesaler and sell it cheaper than the supermarket. We can then add them to our map and send them a Crop For The Shop poster.