How to Cook Beets to Retain Nutrients
Get the Most Bang for Your Beet
There’s plenty to love about beets. This root vegetable is hardy, filling and a natural comfort food, but its incredible nutritional value is the real draw. How do you prepare them to get the most bang for your beet? Discover the nutritional benefits of beets, the best ways to cook them and the benefits of cooking in stainless steel.
Health Benefits of Beets
Beets are rich in nutrients like potassium, magnesium, folate, vitamin C, nitrates and betaine. Studies have shown that beets can help reduce blood pressure and improve cognitive function.
Beets could improve athletic performance by enhancing blood flow and alleviating muscle soreness in some types of exercise. That's why downing a glass of beet juice has become a standard pregame ritual for many endurance athletes.
How to Prepare Beets
If you want to maximize beets' nutritional value, follow the tips below when storing and cooking them.
1. Store Them Properly
After bringing beets home from the grocery, try to store them immediately unless you're cooking them right away. Proper storage can preserve their flavor and life span.
Start by cutting off the beet greens, leaving about an inch of stem attached. Wrap the beets gently in paper towels, then store them in a plastic Ziploc bag in the refrigerator. They should last for about two or three weeks.
You can blanch and freeze them if you'd like to store them for longer — they should last up to eight months. Washing beets before storage can make them rot faster, so remember to leave them unwashed until right before you use them.
Remove the beets from the refrigerator when you're ready to cook them. Wash and scrub them gently with a vegetable brush, then prepare them using one of the methods below.
2. Roast Them
Roasting is an overall healthy cooking method with minimal vitamin loss, particularly vitamin C. Roasted beets are rich and sweet with slight mineral flavors. Remember to avoid long cooking times and high temperatures, as these can reduce nutrients. Try using smaller bulbs if you want to prepare them faster. You can roast beets in an oven with dry heat, or with Saladmaster cookware on the stove.
3. Stir-Fry Them
While cooking techniques like pan-frying, shallow-frying and deep-frying increase calorie, salt and fat content, stir-frying is a healthier technique. We recommend using a stainless steel wok from Saladmaster to stir-fry beets and other vegetables.
Whatever cooking method you use, we recommend keeping the skin on your beets — there are valuable nutrients in those root vegetable skins. Use a Saladmaster food processor to slice it, and you won’t even notice the skin.
4. Use Stainless Steel Cookware
At Saladmaster, our 316Ti stainless steel cookware makes it easy to prepare vegetables without unnecessary oils. Other advantages of stainless steel cookware include the following.
- Durable: Quality stainless steel cookware is reliable and durable. Unlike aluminum, glass, ceramic and other materials, it can last for many years without rusting, chipping, bending or warping.
- No toxins: Most nonstick and aluminum pans have potentially harmful chemical coatings, like Teflon and polyfluoroalkyl. Stainless steel cookware is free of these toxins, making them safer for the oven and regular use.
- Easy cleaning: Stainless steel cookware is easy to clean and disinfect. It has a smooth, nonporous surface that blocks air and liquid. It reduces germ and bacterial buildup, as food can't penetrate its surface.
Reap the Benefits of Stainless Steel Cookware With Saladmaster
After exploring the pros of stainless steel cookware, you might consider investing in a premium stainless steel cookware set from Saladmaster. Our semi-vacuum Vapo-Valve™ technology has the following features to lock in nutrients and make cooking a breeze.
- No water or oil: Saladmaster cookware cooks the food in the steam of its juices. It doesn't require water, oil, butter or other fats, thus protecting nutritional value without sacrificing flavor.
- Precise cooking times: The built-in Vapo-Valve™ clicks when your food reaches maximum cooking temperature, preventing overheating while reducing cooking times.
- Protects nutrients: Our cookware can retain up to 93% of your food's vitamins and minerals.
If you're interested in purchasing or learning more about our innovative cookware, find an Authorized Saladmaster Dealer near you today!
To learn more about what Saladmaster can do for you, please contact a dealer, and enjoy tasting the Saladmaster difference by hosting a cooking show.
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