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CERES Fair Food readers' digestibles are tidbits, tasty morsels of bite-sized info about what's in the box, with it, and outside of it.
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Fair Foods'

Weekly Digestibles

12-18 June, 2012
These velvety pocket rockets of purple power are as beautiful as they are tasty…
 
For the Greeks and Romans, white beets were predominantly eaten for their leafy chard. All that changed in Medieval Europe when the wonders of the red vulgar beet (Beta Vulgaris) were rediscovered. Now a dietary staple the world over, our talented growers Joe Sgro & Kane Busch bring you the best organic beetroot from just 152 & 282 kms out of town.

Some people come to love it as a medicinal tonic (aka: juice), and others just for plain good eating. But if the bashful beetroot could blush when we called sweet, would it still prefer to be savoured with salt and spices the way our ancestors ate it?
 
We already know it’s great in soup with parsnip, Ukrainian Borscht with cabbage, and in salad with mint & feta. Forget pumpkin pies & carrot cake, what about a more naughty sounding dessert? You may like to try your hand at making a dark crimson beetroot Mudcake instead. (Recipe below).

Beetroot tip: a rich source of nitrates, raw beetroot juice has been scientifically proven to lower blood pressure and increase blood flow by relaxing & widening blood vessels.
 
Just a tidbit about Foothill & Busch Organics and their produce, straight from the press!

Fair Food Feasting

— The Fair Food Team

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Beetroot Chocolate Mudcake

with Cardamom & Orange Icing

Ingredients
  • 2 beetroots (200g)
  • 150g dark chocolate
  • 1 tsp ginger, minced/grated
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of sea salt, ground
  • 1/3 cup sugar (or equiv.)
  • 180g unsalted butter (or equiv.)
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 2 Tbsp butter (or equiv.)
  • 1 orange, juice & rind
 
 
Method
 
Wash, peel & dice beetroots. Steam until cooked and then puree. Add chocolate pieces to warm beetroot so they melt. Add ginger & juice of half an orange and stir gently to combine. Set the other orange half aside for the icing.

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Sift flour, salt & baking powder into a bowl. Separate the eggs. Beat yolks, butter & sugar until creamy. Whisk whites until they form soft peaks.

Add beetroot mix to flour & combine. Fold in creamy sugar mixture, then fold in the beaten egg whites. Line an 18cm cake tin and gently pour in the mixture. Bake for 50 mins. Once cooked, let stand to cool.

Grate the rind of half an orange, then juice. Combine the icing sugar & cardamom in a bowl. Add the butter, beating the mixture with a fork. Add orange juice as needed. Add orange rind at the end. You may wish to briefly mix a piece of left over beetroot into the icing to add some natural red colouring.

Once the cake is cooked & cooled, apply icing with a spatula or butter knife, and serve! You might think the beetroot will be lost in this dish but it truly remains the centerpiece of this very yummy winter treat.

You can order beetroot at our webstore
More seasonal recipes on our recipe page

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