Try fermenting beetroot to add to your next burger or salad rather than opening a can of the sliced stuff. In traditional Eastern European cuisines, pickled beetroot were not seasoned with vinegar and sugar, but acquired their sour flavour through fermentation. As an adjunct benefit, those same bacteria also produce vitamins, particularly folate and vitamin K2, and help to populate the gut with microbes that can boost the immune system.

INGREDIENTS
12 medium beetroot
Seeds from 2 cardamom pods (optional)
1 piece ginger (optional)
2 tbsp salt
1 cup water

METHOD
Prick the beetroot in several places and then place on an oven tray and bake at 150°C for about 2-3 hours (or until soft).

Peel the beetroot and cut them into thin slices or julienne them.

Don’t grate them or use a food processor as this will create too much juice and speed up the fermentation process to create an alcoholic drink (a beetroot ‘beer’ called kvass in Eastern Europe).

Put the beetroot pieces into a wide-mouthed jar or a container and press down lightly. Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the beetroot, adding more water if necessary to cover the beetroot by about 2cm.

Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for 3-4 days to ferment, before transferring to a cooler space for storage.

 

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