IngredientsPreserves
Rote Betebeetroot
The root of Beta vulgaris: deep dark red, earthy and plainly sweet. The colour is betanin, a pigment that stains whatever it touches: board, fingers, potato salad.
In Germany it reaches the table boiled and sliced, as a salad with vinegar, onion and a little caraway.
In Mexikoin Mexico
Here it is called betabel and every mercado has it, all year and cheap.
No substitute needed. One of the few German ingredients you can just buy.
Vorsichtwatch out
Raw and grated it tastes like another vegetable: firm, sharp, earthy, close to radish. Boiled it turns soft and sweet.
Recipes rarely take both. Check which one is meant before the root hits the grater.
Kochencooking it
Boil it with the skin on and a stub of stem left, or it bleeds into the water and goes pale.
Gloves, or wash up straight away: the juice sinks into wood and light clothes fast.