Beetroot
Beets are a genus of plants in the Amaranthaceae family. Wild beet species can be found on the Mediterranean coast, on the Atlantic coast of Europe (from Greece to Syria), the Middle East and parts of Asia, including India. This genus consists of biennial or rarely perennial species.
The cultivated vegetable plant known as beet (Beta Vulgaris) has a round or carrot-shaped root. The most common variety is the red beetroot. Actually, the beetroot is the edible taproot portion of a beet plant, also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet or dinner beet.
There are a number of edible beetroot varieties used for human consumption, known as: Red, White, Golden and Chioggia!
Many beet products are made from other Beta vulgaris varieties, particularly sugar beet.
However, for human consumption, usually the deep purple roots of beets are eaten boiled, roasted, or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. A large proportion of the commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilized beets or into pickles.
Besides being used as a food, beets have uses as food colorants and as a medicinal plants.
Betanins, obtained from the roots, are used in the food industry as red coloring, in order to intensify the color of tomato paste, sauces, desserts, jams and jellies, ice cream, sweets, and breakfast cereals.
Red Beetroot is a natural (sometimes organic) vegetable red colorant that we use for our pasta.
References: Read more about Beetroots on Wikipedia
