Are you cooking with beetroot this month?

Beetroot contains more sugar than both carrots and sweetcorn and thanks to its unique earthy flavour, this humble root veg makes for a great addition to many a recipe be it grilled, boiled, steamed, roasted, shredded and preserved or even raw and juiced. We hear it can even be used to make vino. Ready to eat seasonal?

Most commonly, beetroot or Beta vulgaris is deep ruby red in colour, although lesser known varieties can be yellow, white, orange and even a rather pretty red and white candy stripe. It’s a great veg to have on your plate in winter as it is high in vitamin C, fibre and antioxidants and the leaves even contain vitamin A which is great for the immune system.

Recipes for beetroot

Bags of beetroot and needing some inspiration? Give one of these recipes a try and let us know how you get on.

• Beetroot and goat cheese salad with rocket
• Beetroot, apple and feta salad
• Beetroot, carrot and orange juice
• Homemade beetroot veggie crisps

Nifty tools for cooking with beetroot

How to slice and dice this staining root veg without getting pink, scary-looking fingers? With super sharp kitchen tools, of course. These are our pick for the job:

• Gefu Spiralfix Spiral Slicer
• Philips Avance Electric Juicer
• De Buyer Kobra Complete Mandoline Slicer

What else is in season this month?

Due to South Africa’s diverse provincial climates, we are lucky to have many fruit, vegetables and herbs in season somewhere in the country almost all year round. Some fruit and veg that are particularly prolific during the month of July however are apples, avocados, grapefruit, lemons, naartjies, oranges, pears, pineapples, broad beans, kale and spinach, parsnips, pumpkin, radishes, turnips, watercress, rosemary and fennel.

Happy seasonal cooking all. And remember, never eat beets in a white T-shirt.