Beetroot powder is a specialist product & a natural red food colouring. It has a slightly sweet taste & it is an ideal substitute for artificial red colours that can cause allergic reactions in some people. Use it in any dish that you want to add a bit of red to. A little goes a long way. Add to Tandoori & Butter Chicken recipes for extra red colour, use in Chinese sweet & sour dishes & use to colour fresh home-made pasta. It is purely freeze dried beetroot ground to a fine powder & contains all the nutritional aspects of beetroot ( 1 heaped teaspoon of powder contains around the same nutritional content as one medium sized beetroot ) so it is often used, not just for colouring, but to add extra flavour & nutritional content to dishes like Borscht. The powder is often added to smoothies & milkshakes as well as soups for its nutritional & mineral content. Principal Constituents of Beetroot Powder: - Beetroot contains significant amounts of Betaine, Alanine, Alantoin, Arginine, beta-carotene, Calcium, Magnesium, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), Phosphorous, Potassium, Selenium, Thiamine (vitamin B1), Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Vitamin C, Zinc History of Beetroot: - Beetroot has been eaten for thousands of years with examples from ancient cultures although interestingly the ancient civilizations that were familiar with it would not recognise the root as we know it today which is an entirely hybridized plant since the 17th Centuy. The ancients tended to eat the leaves & the plant once had a deep tap bland coloured root & looked more like a parsnip. The root as a vegetable was only popularised by French chefs in the 19th Century. Beetroot Powder - Beta Vulgaris- 100 Grams
