Beets
Beets originated as “wild sea beets” which had long, slender roots and bushy greens. They thrived around the coastlines of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, since prehistoric times. The leaves of sea beet have probably been collected and used as a potherb since humans first started experimenting with edible green plants. Sea beet was first domesticated in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. It is the ancestor of all the present-day cultivated forms of beet.
Beet was mentioned in an Assyrian text as growing in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon around 800 BCE. The Greeks presented beet as one of their offerings to the sun god Apollo in the temple at Delphi. Aristophanes mentions beets in Athens in 420 BCE, and Aristotle was the first philosopher to formally classify them around 350 BCE. The greeks enjoyed them for their leaves.
Roman descriptions of beet put more emphasise on the roots than did Greek texts. The Romans were the first people to become interested in the root as a medicine and as a food. Different types of beets would have hybridized freely in Roman gardens, with the seed from plants producing swollen roots being preferentially selected for future planting. The Romans were therefore the first people to cultivate beetroot. Recipes for both the medicinal use and the adventurous culinary appear in Apicius’ The Art of Cooking.
Beet appears in the gardens of Charlemagne (724-814), the ruler of an empire that included Gaul, Italy and large parts of Spain and Germany. Beets were also consumed in Asia Minor in ancient times and in India by classical times, and were known in China by AD 850. In contrast to beet root, leaf beets gained in popularity during the Middle Ages. However, from the 1530s onwards, detailed descriptions of beet roots start to appear, and it’s popularity as a food begins to take off. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, uncontrolled hybridization between leaf beets, chards and early long-rooted beetroot produced a wide variety of forms.
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.
Beets have the highest sugar content of any vegetable, but they are very low in calories. Fresh beets have twice the folic acid and potassium, and have a distinctive flavor and a crisp texture not found in canned beets. Fresh beets also supply a nutritional bonus--their green tops are an excellent source of beta-carotene, calcium, and iron.
Raw beets contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer. The pigment that gives beets their rich, purple-crimson color--betacyanin--is also a powerful cancer-fighting agent.
Beets' potential effectiveness against colon cancer and liver disease has been demonstrated in several studies.
Beets increase activity of two antioxidant enzymes in the liver, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase. Those two enzymes are the bodyguards for liver cells, protecting them from free radical attack while the liver is detoxifying the body.
The high amount of folate in beets protects unborn babies from birth defects. Beet juice also increases the number of anti-cancer cells in the stomach and colon, as well as preventing healthy cells at risk from mutating into cancer cells.
significant nutritional content:
folate, manganese, potassium, fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, tryptophan, iron, copper, phosphorus -and for the leafy tops: beta-carotene, calcium, and iron |
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FRUITS
Apples
Bananas
Coconut
Mango
Oranges
Peaches
Strawberries
VEGETABLES
Beets
Carrots
Celery
Cucumber
Garlic
Ginger
Parsley
Spinach
Spirulina
Wheatgrass |
