Beetroot (2004)
Stephen Nottingham
© Copyright: Stephen Nottingham 2004
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7. Cuisine
The
different cultivated forms of Beta vulgaris have been bred for
different culinary uses. Leaf beets have been selected for their edible
leaves and their roots are not eaten, while both the leaves and roots of
beetroot or table beet are edible. This chapter surveys beet cuisine, from
traditional dishes to the creations of a new generation of enterprising
chefs. The food is discussed in an historical and cultural context. Although
ingredients are given, the reader is referred to the cookbooks listed in the
bibliography for detailed recipes with exact measurements and cooking times.
However, for those who enjoy experimenting in the kitchen as much as I do,
the following should provide enough guidance and inspiration for some
creative cookery.
The leaves of wild sea beet (Beta vulgaris
ssp. maritima) have been collected from European coastlines and
consumed since at least ancient times. Richard Mabey, in Food For Free,
notes that domestication has not greatly altered the appearance of leaf
beets, although cultivated forms have lost much of the strong tannin-and-iron
flavour of sea beet. Small leaves of sea beet can be used in salads, while
the larger outer leaves are best steamed or boiled. Mabey recommends picking
sea beet between April and November, dispensing with any substantial stalks, and
washing the leaves well. If boiling, add a little water (1 cm) to the bottom
of a large saucepan. Cooked should take a matter of minutes with a lid on,
until the leaves turn a dark green. The leaves can be chopped and pressed
down at intervals. After draining, the beet can be tossed with a knob of
butter. Mabey suggests that sea beet cooked in this way goes well with diced
tomatoes and chopped hazel nuts.
A maritime marriage of Mussels with sea beet
is described in Mabey's book. Sea beet is boiled, pressed to drain, and mixed
with a béchamel sauce containing Parmesan cheese and a pinch of nutmeg. The
mussels are cooked with white wine and garlic, mixed together with the sea
beet and sauce, topped with further cheese and breadcrumbs, and baked in an
oven for ten minutes.
Wild sea beet can be used in any recipe calling
for spinach. A recipe dating from the seventeenth century, for example, uses
sea beet as an alternative to spinach in a pastry tart, with hard-boiled eggs
and a sweet sauce containing raisins and cinnamon.
Spinach beet or perpetual spinach is the
domesticated beet that most resembles wild beet. It is usually cooked like
spinach: steamed, stir-fried or boiled. Although often described as being
like spinach, it is a little coarser in texture. Beet leaves generally have a
more "earthy" taste than spinach. Like spinach, beet leaves are
best boiled in a small amount of water, so that it is evaporated or absorbed
at the end of cooking. This keeps the iron and other minerals with the leaves
and ensures they are eaten rather than being wasted. Alternatively, the
cooking liquor can be used in stocks, soups or gravies.
Spinach beet can be used in recipes instead of
spinach. The leaves can be mixed with ricotta cheese, for example, to make
stuffing for pasta or layers in vegetarian lasagne. Tortelli di Erbette
is a kind of ravioli from the Parma region of Italy, which is filled with
young beetroot leaves, spinach beet, chard or spinach.
Since the Middle Ages, whenever sorrel and dock (Rumex)
leaves have been consumed, beet leaves have often been mixed with them to
lessen the acidity of sorrel and dock in soups and other dishes. This is
still the case, for example, where French sorrel and beet leaves are eaten
like spinach in France.
In Turkish cookery, beet leaves can be stuffed,
like vine leaves, with a range of ingredients. Nevin Halicic describes a Sarma
of beet leaves (Pazi sarmasi), with the beet leaves being blanched,
plunged into cold water, and wrapped around a stuffing containing minced
lamb, ground wheat, onion, tomato, green peppers, parsley and other
ingredients. These parcels are tightly arranged in a shallow pan with a
little hot water, some butter and sumac (sour berries native to Anatolia).
The pan is covered, with a plate pressing down on the parcels, over a low
heat for about 40 minutes.
Chard is often treated as if it was two
vegetables. The leaf blade is used as beet leaves or spinach, while the
succulent leaf midribs and stalks are cooked independently. However, the
leaves and midrib can be cooked together in the same pan, with the midribs
being cooked for longer. Swiss chard and other chard varieties all have the
same taste. Chard can simply be cooked in a covered pan with olive oil, lemon
juice and seasoning. Ingredients such as capers, garlic, raisins, olives and
pine nuts can be added to the pan. Chard is often prepared with ingredients
like raisins and pine nuts, in dishes with Arabic origins. Swiss chard and
rice soup is an Egyptian speciality, for instance, which includes chickpeas,
onion, garlic, cumin and yoghurt.
Chard (midribs) is probably at its most
interesting when it is cooked like asparagus, being steamed, stewed, baked or
boiled, and served with melted butter or a range of sauces. Chard can be used
in most recipes that call for asparagus. White sauce, cheese or tomato sauce
can be poured over cooked chard. Sauces that are used for celery and cardoons
are also good on chard. Sophie Grigson, for example, describes a recipe for Chard
in a curried cream sauce.
Chard is popular around the Mediterranean,
especially in Provence and Catalonia. In France, chard is called cardes de
bette or blettes. Many recipes for chard, such as Poirée à carde
(stewed chard), originated in France, where it is often cooked with cheese in
tarts, gratins and quiches. Elizabeth David gives a recipe for Blettes à
la crème (chard with cream sauce) in French Provincial Cookery.
In Italy and Spain, chard is sometimes used in
pizza. Its leaves are also incorporated into soups, pancakes, and meat
products such as pies, black pudding and faggots. Sopas Mallorquinas
is a popular chard dish from the Balearic Islands. It is a vegetable and
bread stew - solid peasant fare - that exists in many versions. Sophie
Grigson presents a recipe using dried bread, the shredded greens of chard
(the midribs are used for something else), garlic, leeks, tomatoes, olive oil
and herbs. The stew is poured on top of the bread in a serving bowl.
Beetroot leaves are a little coarser and stronger
tasting than the leaves from beets cultivated exclusively for their leaves.
However, fresh bright beetroot leaves should not be overlooked in the
kitchen. They can be lightly cooked and are rich in vitamins and minerals.
Young beetroot leaves with crimson-veins add colour when mixed with other green
vegetable leaves. Beetroot leaves do not keep as long as beetroots after
harvest, and are only of value when fresh. Leaves from traditional varieties,
such as Bull's Blood and Early Wonder, which tend to have more abundant
foliage, are often better to eat than the leaves of many modern varieties,
where plant breeders have concentrated on traits relating to the root.
Beetroot leaves are commonly eaten in many parts
of the world. Young leaves are treated like leaf beet and spinach, for
example, in Indonesia and Japan. The first delicate leaves of beetroot can be
eaten raw in mixed salads, where they provide colour. Beetroot leaves can be
lightly steamed and flavoured with a little freshly-ground black pepper or
they can be stir-fried with garlic and soy sauce. The dark green foliage and
purple veins of beetroot leaves can be a colourful addition to stir-fried or
steamed spinach, chard or other green-leaf vegetables. Chopped or shredded
beetroot leaves are often added to soups and stews. Botvinya is a
traditional cold sweet-and-soup Russian soup made from beetroot leaves,
spinach and sorrel. It is garnished with cucumber or small pieces of fish.
When buying, look for beetroot that are firm to
the touch and have unblemished skins. The leaves should ideally be attached
or twisted off around 5 cm above the root. When preparing, roots should be
gently washed to remove soil particles, for example, using a sponge. Heavy
scrubbing may damage the skin and cause bleeding. A bleeding root is messy to
handle and is losing colour and nutrients. The roots should be undamaged and
unpeeled before cooking, unless the intention is to make soup or to colour a
dish with beetroot juice. Peeled beetroot can also be grated and eaten raw,
but it is usually cooked before being peeled and used in salad and as a
vegetable. The two main methods of cooking are boiling and baking.
To boil beetroot, the roots are placed in a pan
of lightly salted water, covered and simmered for between 45 minutes and two
hours, depending on their size. Jane Grigson recommends a tablespoon of salt
for 1 Kg (2 lb) of beetroot, although the trend now is to use less salt when
cooking vegetables. Small beets and minibeet varieties may cook in as little
as 30 minutes. Large mature roots may take at least two hours to cook,
although such large roots are rarely sold in shops. Cooking small or
medium-sized beets for over two hours, by any method, will cause the roots to
go hard. After boiling, beetroot can be refreshed in cold water, which also
cools them enough for the skins to be easily removed. Aluminium pans should
be avoided when boiling beetroot. Chemicals in the beet react with the
aluminium, discolouring the pan and causing them to taste bitter.
Although boiling is often given as the cooking
method in recipes, I prefer to bake beetroot. Baking retains the flavour of
the beetroot better than other cooking methods. The roots develop a sweeter,
fruitier, and richer flavour when baked. To cook beets relatively quickly,
they can be individually wrapped in aluminium foil and placed on a baking
tray in an oven (160°C to 180°C) for around 45 to 90 minutes, depending on
size. An hour at this temperature is usually sufficient for small to
medium-sized roots. Small beetroots may be cooked in as little as twenty minutes.
Very small beetroots or minibeets, however, can easily become overcooked in
an oven, and boiling may be preferable in this case.
Temperatures above 180°C (350°F) should be
avoided when baking, as beets need time at a lower steady temperature to cook
evenly and develop their full flavour. If time permits, oven temperatures of
140-150°C and longer baking times give beetroot an excellent flavour.
Beetroot is therefore a good vegetable to cook when the oven is being used
for other slow-cooked dishes. When cooking several beetroot, they can be
placed closely together (almost touching) in a covered baking dish, with a
little water to prevent them drying out. Even-sized beets give the best
result, as they cook to the same degree. As an alternative to cooking in
foil, beetroot can be wrapped in their own leaves, to preserve moisture, and
baked in a moderate oven. In Italy, it is considered traditional to cook
beetroot slowly in the embers of a dying fire.
Some cookbooks suggest the microwave oven as a
method of cooking beetroot. Beetroot are placed in a bowl with a few
tablespoons of water and covered with a microwavable plastic film. The advice
for medium to large-sized beets is something like full power for five
minutes, rest, and power again for five minutes. However, I am not a fan of
microwave ovens and consider this is a waste of good beetroot. Rapid cooking
by microwaves can easily lead to rubbery flesh texture, unappealing skin
charring, a depletion of nutrients, and an undeveloped flavour. If time is a
limiting factor, pre-cooked beetroot can be bought.
The skin of cooked beetroot is easy to peel off.
If the skin does not budge, the beet is not cooked. A skewer or fork is
sometimes recommended to test whether beetroot is cooked, but piercing causes
bleeding of the root. Once cooked, beetroot can be cooled a little before
rubbing with the finger and thumb to remove the skin. Kitchen gloves can be
worn to prevent temporary staining of the hands. To speed the cooling
process, a running cold-water tap can be used. Peeled cooked beetroot are
then ready to use in a wide range of dishes.
Borsch or borshch is the Russian name for a
collection of Eastern European beetroot soups. These date back to at least
the fourteenth century, when beetroot was first introduced into this region.
Borsch is particularly popular in Russia, the Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland.
Beetroot is the principal ingredient, giving borsch its distinctive colour
and flavour, although no two recipes for it are the same. It probably originated
as a hearty one-pot meal in countries where maincrop beetroot was a staple in
the diet of the rural population. It has provided winter sustenance, for
instance, to the Russian peasantry for many centuries. Borsch can be served
hot or cold, or hot and then subsequently cold. It is at its most complex as
a lavish Ukrainian speciality, and at its most modern as an elegantly clear
and chilled consommé.
Borsch is of great cultural significance in
Central and Eastern Europe. In Poland, for example, beetroot soup is one of
twelve Lenten dishes eaten during the period of fasting leading up to Easter.
Borsch is a traditional dish of the Ashkenazi Jews, who took it from Eastern
Europe to countries around the world. In Sergei Eisenstein's classic film Battleship
Potemkin (1925), Soviet workers eat borsch, which symbolises their roots
in Russia's soil, in contrast to the aristocracy who consume imported and
frivolous concoctions.
In the nineteenth century, a French influence
entered the cuisine of Poland and Russia. The influence was felt first in
Poland, where sauces started to become richer in wealthier homes. The Russian
aristocracy then imported French influences into their cooking by employing
French chefs. One of the original celebrity chefs, Antonin Carême cooked for
Alexander I, the Tsar of Russia from 1801 to 1825, at his court in St.
Petersburg. The French fashion in Russian cuisine continued until the Russian
Revolution of 1917, when there was a backlash against foreign influence and a
patriotic return to traditional foods. Ironically, it was at this time that
borsch became one of the first Russian dishes to become popular in France,
due to the arrival of emigres in the 1920s who were departing Russia in the
wake of the Revolution.
Borsch may have originated in the Ukraine, and
Ukrainian borsch is borsch at its most extravagant. It can take several days
to prepare, is made in large quantities, and is a dish fit for a feast.
Numerous borsch recipes exist in cookbooks (e.g. Food of Eastern Europe,
Russian Cookery, The Good Cook's Encyclopaedia and Larousse
Gastronomique). The Larousse recipe is based on one handed down by
Carême and based on his time in the Russian court. Butter is first melted in
a large pan, although lard would have traditionally been used for frying in
Eastern Europe. Chopped onions are fried in the butter, with the beetroot
being added next. Beetroot is the main vegetable and it is usually uncooked
to start with, being peeled and either sliced or grated. Stewing steak (as in
Carême) or other meat such as streaky bacon, cooked ham or sausage can be
added at this stage, although meat can be cooked and served separately. The
stock or water, typically a rich beef or chicken stock is added to the pot,
along with a selection of other vegetables. A fresh stock is often made, for
instance using shin beef, as the first stage of cooking borsch. The
vegetables added can include shredded cabbage, carrot, celery, celeriac,
parsnip, Hamburg parsnip, potatoes, tomatoes or tomato puree swede and
garlic. These vegetables tend to be root vegetables, as this is traditionally
a winter dish. Shredded beetroot leaves can also be added. Herbs including
parsley, peppercorns and a bay leaf are often tied in a muslin bag, and added
along with salt and pepper. Flour, or a roux made from lard or butter and
flour, is added to thicken the soup. Borsch is simmered for a couple of
hours, or until all the vegetables are tender.
Towards the end of cooking, either reserved
beetroot juice or kvas is usually added to a classic borsch. Kvas is a
fermented beetroot juice that gives the soup an intense ruby colour and adds
a sour tang or tartness to its flavour. The fermentation is started several
days in advance of cooking. Raw grated beetroot is steeped in warm water,
along with stale rye bread and some sugar. It is covered, left for three or
four days, and strained before being added to the soup. Where kvas is
unavailable, boiling grated beetroot in stock with lemon juice and straining
can produce a similar effect. Some recipes suggest adding red wine vinegar,
cider vinegar, malt vinegar, dry sherry or lemon juice, with or without
sugar, at the same time as the stock to impart a tangy component to the
flavour. The addition of kvas or fresh beetroot juice toward the end of
cooking is important to achieve a vivid red colour. The colour needs reviving
because prolonged cooking causes the pigment in beetroot to fade and to take
on a brownish tinge.
Borsch is served in bowls and topped with a
garnish of soured cream (sour cream or smetana), swirled on its surface,
usually with chopped chives or other herbs (e.g. dill or parsley). Ukrainian
borsch is traditionally served with a range of accompaniments. Bowls of
smetana (soured cream) or fresh cream are the most common side dish, to spoon
into the soup according to taste. A selection of fresh meats often
accompanies borsch, which can include roast beef, bacon or game. Claudia
Rosen notes that if meat accompanies borsch at a Jewish meal in Eastern
Europe, it is traditional to thicken the borsch with egg yolks and serve it
without sour cream, in keeping with dietary laws.
In Russia, Poland and the Ukraine, piroshki or
pirozki are served with borsch at feasts. These are little dumplings made
from various types of dough, or pastries, which can be stuffed with various
meats, cabbage, rice, mushrooms or curd cheese. They are traditionally
crescent-shaped. Buckwheat kasha is also traditionally served with borsch.
Kasha is a type of porridge or gruel popular in Eastern Europe, which is made
with crushed or powdered buckwheat. Roasted buckwheat kasha is baked with
water and butter. It can sometimes be spooned into soup bowls before the
borsch. Alternatively, blini (buckwheat pancakes) might be served. Borsch can
also be served with white kidney beans or mushrooms. Garlic cloves are
optionally eaten between mouthfuls of borsch.
Numerous variations of borsch and its accompaniments
exist. Larousse Gastronomique even lists a fish borsch and a green
borsch; the latter made with sorrel or spinach. In vegetarian versions,
mushrooms can be used for the stock. Summer borscht recipes, featuring greens
rather than root vegetables, are an intermediate step in this direction.
Borsch recipes from Eastern Europe that include sorrel, celery, leeks, apples
and dried fruit were geared toward summer feasts. Jane Grigson's Summer
borsch includes courgettes, spring onions and beetroot leaves.
Borsch is generally cooked in large quantities,
and may be eaten hot initially and cold on subsequent occasions. Cold borsch
is usually chilled. An early Lithuanian recipe, cited by Claudia Rosen, is
for Sour iced beetroot soup. Iced borsch stands comparison to the
chilled fruit soups (e.g. cherry, plum) characteristic of Hungarian cuisine.
Versions of chilled borsch have become popular outside of Central and Eastern
Europe, for example, in the Mediterranean where it can be considered a
distant cousin of Spanish gazpacho (chilled tomato soup).
There are many other beetroot soups, utilizing a
wide variety of ingredients. Zuppa Ebrea (Hebrew Soup) is a chilled
beetroot soup made with eggs and served with potatoes. Swekolnik is an
iced Russian soup, made using the leaves and roots of beets, cucumber,
tarragon, chives, mint, fennel, cream and vinegar. Beetroot and caraway
soup is a Hungarian speciality. Parsnips and beetroot make good
companions in soup.
Consommé is a clear soup made from clarified meat
stock, which often includes vegetables. Delia Smith presents a
summer-orientated recipe for Chilled beetroot consomme for her British
audience, in which diced raw beetroot is boiled with chopped spring onions
and a bouquet garni for one hour. Diced peeled cucumber is added towards the
end of cooking, when the soup is sieved and red wine vinegar, lemon juice and
seasoning are added, along with a garnish of yoghurt and chopped chives.
Clear versions of beetroot soups have fewer vegetables, tend not to include
potato, and are well strained before serving. However, they are still
typically garnished with soured cream and chopped herbs.
Elizabeth David gives a recipe for a clear Iced
beetroot soup in A Book of Mediterranean Food. She makes it with
aspic jelly and spoons it over cooled poached eggs. She suggests that the
method of serving is important, to "avoid it looking like nursery
jelly". Jellied beetroot consommé was a feature of the menu at
Bibendum, Michelin House in South Kensington, London, when Simon Hopkinson
was the chef in the 1990s. It was restaurants like this that helped beetroot
to become fashionable again. The jellied consommé is served with sour cream
and chives, with (optional) caviar. Alastair Little gives a recipe for Chilled
borscht with baby vegetables, which is also made with a jellied consommé.
It is served in his restaurant with chopped chives or chervil leaves, crème
fraiche and horseradish, although a small amount of harissa is suggested as
an alternative to horseradish. A beef gelling agent is considered to work
best in these dishes.
When beetroot is eaten raw, it is usually grated
and served in a salad. It has an appealing crunchy texture. The grating can
be done wearing gloves or in a food processor to reduce staining. Marinating
raw grated beetroot in a little vinegar can enhance its flavour. In one
version of Russian salad, grated beetroot is marinated in cider
vinegar, along with celery, chopped fresh herbs and spring onions, seasoning
and apple juice. Russian salad can also include diced potato, green beans,
peas, carrots and boiled eggs. Grated beetroot can also be lightly fried in
butter, then tossed with lemon juice and chopped herbs.
Raw beetroot goes well with oranges in salads. In
a typical recipe, grated raw beetroot, orange segments and a little raw red
onion are mixed together with red wine vinegar and topped with a dressing
that includes yoghurt, olive oil and wholegrain mustard.
Cooked beetroot can be sliced, diced or quartered
and placed in a serving dish with a range of ingredients to make salad. Baked
beetroot can simply be skinned, sliced and served with vinegar, sugar and a
little water. An old Eastern European recipe calls for cooked and diced
beetroot to be mixed with chopped mild onion, sugar and sour cream, and
dressed with salt, lemon juice or vinegar. In many beetroot salads, the red
colour of beetroot is compartmentalized by assembling the ingredients at the
last moment before serving. This lets the different components retain their
identity, rather than being infiltrated with beetroot juice. Jane Grigson
describes a Beetroot and orange salad, for example, that is assembled
so the ingredients keep their intrinsic colour.
A touch of sharpness counteracts the sweetness in
beetroot, making wine or malt vinegar, lemon juice, mustard or horseradish
ideal ingredients to add. A little raw shallot or onion is often added to
beetroot salads. Capers are also sometimes included for their saltiness and
complementary flavour. One of the simplest salads is small beets served with
lemon juice or vinaigrette dressing (oil and wine vinegar), salt and milled
pepper. Beetroot salad a l'alsacienne, given in Larousse
Gastronomique, is a combination of sliced baked beetroot, vinaigrette
dressing with mustard, and finely chopped shallots and herbs, marinated for
one hour.
Elizabeth David describes a Salade de céleris
et betteraves (celery and beetroot salad). This winter salad is
traditionally served with turkey at Christmas in parts of France. Cooked and
diced beetroot are tossed in highly seasoned oil and vinegar dressing, with
garlic and chopped parsley. Strips of celery are separately dressed with
seasoning, oil and lemon juice and scattered on top of the beetroot just
before serving.
Vinegar is a frequent accompaniment to beetroot.
In Britain and Germany, for instance, most people know beetroot primarily as
boiled beetroot steeped in malt vinegar. During my childhood in the 1960s and
1970s in England, I can't remember encountering a beetroot that was not
pickled and in a glass jar. Pickled beetroot is fine in moderation, but its
ubiquity has given beetroot a bad name. Malt vinegar is too strong a taste
for many people, who may be put off beetroot for life through only eating it
pickled. Beetroot is too interesting and versatile to deserve this fate. A
more subtle acidity is often best, to counter its sweetness, while the
addition of something creamy or oily further enhances its flavour. Beetroot
is now being served in a wider variety of vinegars than ever before. Wine and
cider vinegars, flavoured vinegars and balsamic vinegar, for example, are all
alternatives to malt vinegar.
Yoghurt (or sour cream) is often used in chilled
beetroot salads. Grated carrot and sliced onions often feature as additional
vegetables. The fruits most frequently added to beetroot salads are apple,
orange, pear and grape. The herbs most commonly used are chives, dill,
marjoram, mint and parsley. Walnut is the nut most commonly added to beetroot
salads. In addition to salt and pepper, cumin or other ground spices are
sometimes used.
In recipes for beetroot, variety or cultivar is
rarely mentioned. Beetroot recipes usually call for generic beetroot. An
exception to this is salads that exploit the different colours of beetroot.
Slices of white beetroot (e.g. Albina Vereduna, Blankoma) can be alternated
with orange-yellow beetroot (e.g. Burpee's Golden) and deep red beetroot
(e.g. Detroit, Boltardy). The red and white bullseye pattern of sliced
Chioggia is also striking, although it fades with cooking. To use it in a
colourful salad, the peeled root can be cut into thin slices that are boiled
in salted water for around seven minutes or until tender. This short cooking
time leaves the distinct pattern intact. Chioggia does not bleed like most
red beetroot. Chioggia slices can therefore be neatly arranged, for example,
with sliced hard-boiled eggs, olives and fresh dill. The flavour of Chioggia
is distinctive, being an old variety with an unimproved flavour. It appears
to be an acquired taste, because descriptions of its flavour in the
literature range from "insipid" and "horrible", to
"delicious when baked" and "generally very tasty".
The variety of beetroot used is also significant
where size is important. Beetroots range in size from minibeets, to golf and
tennis ball size, to mature roots the size of cannonballs or large parsnips.
Minibeets are good pickled and in salads, large roots are ideal for making
large amounts of borsch or casserole, but medium-sized beets tend to be best
when serving beetroot as a hot vegetable.
Baked beetroot can be served simply in their
skins by slicing them open and adding butter and seasoning. Alternatively, a
sauce of crème fraiche, creamed horseradish and chopped fresh dill can be
used to fill baked beetroot. This works best with larger globe-shaped roots.
There are, however, numerous other ways that beetroot can be prepared as a
hot vegetable dish.
The Italian regions have their own traditional
ways of preparing beetroot. Beets are parboiled and baked in cream in the
Valle d'Aosta, for instance, while in Emilia-Romagna they are baked in a
béchamel sauce topped with Parmesan cheese. Antonio Carluccio describes an Italian
beetroot and red cabbage dish (Barbabietola e cavola rosso), in which the
vegetables are baked in stock with cumin seed, a bay leaf and red wine
vinegar, for serving with game or roast beef. Beetroot á la Lyonnaise
is a French recipe, listed in Larousse Gastronomique, which calls for
parboiled beets to be peeled, sliced and cooked until tender in butter with
thinly sliced onion. The dish is finished, over heat, with the addition of a
little brown stock or bouillon and additional butter.
Beetroot and potato are combined in a recipe from
Mrs. Conrad's Home Cooking. The beetroot is cooked with onions, cream,
sugar, white wine vinegar and dill; then served inside a ring of hot mashed
potato. This red and white, sweet and sour, beetroot dish originated in
Poland suggests Jane Grigson, who reproduces the recipe in her Vegetable
Book of 1978. The red and white zones are suggestive of the Polish flag,
while the author's husband Conrad was from that country. Joseph Conrad, the
famous author of Heart of Darkness, wrote in the preface of his wife's
first cookery book that of all books, only cookery books are morally above
suspicion because their one aim is to increase the happiness of mankind. Jane
Grigson also gives a recipe for Polish braised beetroot with stuffed eggs,
which combines the interesting textures of a creamy egg stuffing, a crisp
outer egg coating, and grated beetroot flavoured with horseradish and lemon
juice.
Russian beetroot casserole
resembles a thickened borsch, but with less liquid and a sweet-and-sour flavour.
Onions are fried in melted butter, to which stock, chopped vegetables,
including beetroot, and mushrooms are added. After simmering for about an
hour, lemon juice, chopped mint with other herbs, seasoning and paprika are
stirred in or used to garnish, along with the inevitable soured cream.
A traditional Dutch method of preparing beets is
to simmer them in water thickened with corn starch, along with butter,
vinegar, sugar, onions, cloves and seasoning. The influential French cookery
writer La Varenne describes the frying of slices of pre-cooked beetroots in
butter with chopped onions and a dash of vinegar.
Beetroot became popular in Turkey during the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and a recipe for beetroot casserole from
that time advises cutting up peeled roots and cooking them with butter,
parsley, chopped onion and garlic, with flour being added to the water to
thicken the sauce.
A recipe for Glazed beetroot is given in a
traditional British cookbook (Good Housekeeping Cookery Book). Sliced
cooked beetroot is added to melted butter in a saucepan, along with lemon
rind and juice, sugar and seasoning. The beetroot is stirred and heated,
while capers and chopped chives and parsley are added, before serving hot.
Sophie Grigson gives a recipe for Beetroot with apple, in which slices
of dessert apple are first pan-fried in oil and butter, followed by sliced
cooked beetroot. The apple and beetroot are transferred to a serving dish.
Lemon juice and horseradish sauce are added to the pan and mixed with the
juices, and then poured over the apple and beetroot immediately before
serving.
A modern British recipe for Roast balsamic
beetroot, from a book by Nigel Slater, involves cutting cooked beetroot
into wedges, and tossing them into a roasting tin with onion segments and
olive oil. This is covered and the dish roasted for 30 minutes, after which a
little balsamic vinegar and salt are added. It is then roasted uncovered for
30 minutes longer. Cooked sliced beetroot can also be given a roasting in an
orange sauce (orange juice, flour to thicken and vinegar or lemon juice to
sharpen), with orange segments being added near the end. Another modern
treatment for beetroot is to cut them raw into thin strips and stir-fry them,
with the later addition of beetroot leaves and spinach. Stir-fried beetroot
can also include garlic, ginger, soy sauce, spring onions, chilli or
mushrooms.
Hot beetroot goes well with double cream, soured
cream (smetana), crème fraîche, fromage frais, buttermilk or yoghurt. A simple
way of serving, for instance, involves heating cream with the beetroot
cooking liquor and pouring over hot baked beetroot. Baby beets and spring
onions stewed in cream is a version from Alastair Little's Keep it
Simple.
The first recipes for Beetroot fritters
appeared in early British cookbooks. John Nott, in his 1723 cookbook, dips
slices of baked beetroot in a batter of flour, white wine, cream, egg,
crushed cloves and nutmeg, and seasoning. He then coats them in flour,
breadcrumbs and parsley, and fries them. The fritters are served with lemon
juice. Beetroot fitters were popular in British cookbooks of the 1930s. Gary
Rhodes has recently updated beetroot fritters, with wedges of floured and
seasoned beetroot being deep-fried in a thick batter of flour, salt and lager
beer. They can be served with salt and vinegar, like French fries or chips.
Thinly sliced beetroot can be deep-fried in hot
oil to make Beetroot crisps (chips in the USA). Along with parsnip
crisps, beetroot crisps are an alternative to potato crisps. They are gaining
in popularity. At least one international sandwich bar chain is now stocking
beetroot crisps.
Gary Rhodes gives a recipe for Beetroot bubble
and squeak, substituting beetroot for the brassicas (e.g. Brussels
sprouts) traditionally used in this British recipe, but retaining the potato,
onion and butter.
Beetroot can be mashed, like potato. It can never
be made as smooth as mashed potatoes, but the rougher texture lends itself to
recipes containing toasted seeds (e.g. poppy seeds) and roasted nuts. A dash
of red wine vinegar and a generous spoonful of double cream enhance a bowl of
mashed beetroot. Mashed beetroot found its way onto fashionable restaurant
menus in the 1990s. Sabodet with beetroot and horseradish mash, for
example, has featured on the Bibendum menu in London; sabodet being a
traditional French sausage made using pigs’ heads.
Beetroot biscuits were
in the past made by mashing boiled roots and beating them with sugar, butter,
eggs, spices and a little water and lemon juice. The resulting paste was
flattened and patted into small cake shapes, before cooking slowly in an
oven.
Beetroot is a good accompaniment to meat,
particularly game, sausages and cold roast meats. Pickled beetroot is popular
served with cold meats, especially sausages and hams. However, beetroot can
be served with a wide variety of meats, in many adventurous ways.
A recipe for Kidneys with beetroot is
given by Sophie Grigson, who adapted it for home cooking from one by Pierre
Koffman (who used veal kidneys). Lamb's kidneys are first sauté in oil and
butter. The kidneys are set aside when cooked, while shallots and diced
beetroot are added to the pan, along with white wine. When the wine has
evaporated, stock is added and the vegetables are cooked until the stock has
reduced by half. Cream is then added, followed by wholegrain mustard and the
cooked kidneys. Alastair Little gives a recipe for Calves' livers with
beetroot, based on one by Michel Guérard.
The French chef Edouard de Pomiane produced a
much-copied recipe for hare served with hot beetroot in the 1930s. Michel
Guérard gives a more recent version, Râble de li&egarve;vre à la
betterave (saddle of hare with beetroot), in his influential book Cuisine
Gourmande. He describes it as "tender rosy hare with a Russian
flavour". The meat is marinated for several days in red wine with onion,
crushed juniper berries, cloves and herbs. It is then roasted in an oven. The
sauce is made by first sauté thin slices of beetroot and shallots in fat from
the roasting dish. Wine vinegar and marinade are added and the liquid boiled
to reduce. Finally, cream is stirred in to give the sauce a delicate pink
colour. The sauce is poured over the saddle of hare, along with a sprinkling
of chives, while thin slices of beetroot are served around it.
The organic restaurant of the (Lost) Gardens of
Heligan in Cornwall sometimes serves a hearty Casserole of beef, beetroot
and beer. This sweet, meaty and colourful casserole also includes chunks
of onion and a couple of teaspoons of horseradish sauce.
Meatballs with sweet and sour beetroot (Kofta
shawandar hamudh) is a classic Jewish dish that originated in Iraq. The
meatballs are made with beef or lamb, onion, parsley, lemons, cinnamon, sugar
and seasoning. Beetroot are simmered for an hour and placed into another pan
to cook with the meatballs. It is served with rice, and according to Claudia
Rosen, has a very individual taste. She notes that the red colour of the
beetroot and meatballs looks extraordinary against the white rice.
Beetroot purée in the Dutch style is cooked
with apples, onion and grated nutmeg. It is traditionally sprinkled with
chives and served in ramekins with duck, ham or sausages. A beetroot puree
with wine vinegar is described by Michel Guérard as a "deep
rose-coloured sweet-sour puree; that goes well with game, as an alternative
to chestnut puree".
A wide range of meat is served with beetroot in
modern restaurants. Beetroot goes well with pork and lamb chops (e.g. Lamb
chops with beetroot soufflé). A beetroot sauce with blackcurrants or
redcurrants and port is recognized as an ideal accompaniment to duck and
game. Scottish restaurants serve venison with beetroot. Rye-gratinated
fillet of reindeer with dark boletus mushroom sauce and smoked beetroot
is served at the Hotel Merihovi in Finland's Lapland. Meanwhile, South
African chef Bruce Robertson has developed a speciality dish of Beetroot
and warthog biltong.
A popular recipe from the USA is Red flannel
hash. This is made from beets, corned beef, butter, onions, beets,
potato, Worcestershire sauce, parsley and seasoning. The vegetables are
cooked, mixed with the corned beef, and stacked on a plate. It can be topped
with a fried egg.
In a different vein, the American humourist F.H.
Curtis wrote in 1891 that, "dead beets should be served in summary
manner. Winter beets in a wintry manner. Boil them, and having obtained a
supply of hearts, serve two hearts but with a single beet".
Beetroot has enjoyed a long association with
fish. Scandinavian beetroot salads often include fish. These are among the
earliest beetroot recipes. Herring is the most common fish used in salads
with beetroot in Norway and around the Baltic Sea. The herring can be sweet
and smoked, unsmoked, or salted (matjes herring). Herring, sliced hard-boiled
eggs, onion, parsley and vinaigrette are typically used as a garnish with
cooked beetroot. Cooked potatoes, apple, and a cream dressing can also be
used.
Anchovy fillets and radish, in addition to
beetroot and potatoes, are ingredients in a typical Flemish winter salad. Beetroot
with an anchovy dressing (Betteraves a la Provencale) is a related French
dish. Cappon magro, from Liguria in Italy, is a type of Russian salad
with beetroot and other vegetables layered up with fish and covered in a
green sauce. Baked beetroot is one of the vegetables dipped into the
traditional Piedmont garlic and anchovy sauce Bagna cauda, which is
traditionally served in a huge copper pot that is dipped into communally at
harvest festivals.
The Jewish community in Poland developed a
version of the classic dish Gefilte fish with chrain using beetroot.
Gefilte fish is poached fish balls; chrain is a sauce made with horseradish
and, in this case, beetroot. Both fish and sauce are served cold. Claudia
Rosen, in The Book of Jewish Food, describes the preparation of this
appetizer, in which a slice of carrot is traditionally placed on top of each
fish ball. Not all chrain recipes include beetroot, although grated
horseradish is essential. The version developed in Poland has a sauce made
using either beetroot juice or grated cooked beetroot, which is sweeter than
most recipes for chrain. The beetroot softens the piquant flavour of the
sauce and gives it a bright-red colour. The amount of beetroot added to
chrain can vary from very little to around three times the amount of
horseradish. Salt, sour cream, lemon juice, sugar and vinegar are other
typical ingredients.
In Adam's Luxury and Eve's Cookery, an
English cookbook of 1744, beetroots are fried as a garnish for carp and other
fish. More recently, Jane Grigson offers a recipe for Sole with a beetroot
gratin (Sole au betterave), which "rings with brave
affrontery". She also suggests trying the recipe with brill, cod,
haddock or whiting. The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book has a post-WWII
British recipe for Sardine and beetroot salad, using cans of sardines
(mashed), grated apple and diced pickled beetroot, served with salad cream
and lemon juice on a bed of lettuce leaves. Gary Rhodes gives beetroot an
updated East London feel in a recipe for Fillets of smoked eel on a warm
potato, onion and beetroot salad. Modern British restaurants serve
beetroot with a wide range of fish, in dishes such as Beetroot mould with
turbot tartare and Loin of tuna with beetroot and red onion comfit.
Nina Planck provides a recipe for Wild salmon, couscous and marinated
beetroots with greens, in which sliced beetroot is boiled, making a pink
stock that is absorbed by the couscous, and served with briefly-boiled
beetroot leaves alongside seared salmon fillets.
An Elizabethan pie containing beetroot features
in Lorwin Madge's Dining with Shakespeare. Grated beetroot, cheese,
carrots, cinnamon, brown sugar, ginger, egg yolks and butter are cooked under
a rustic piecrust. Ingredients listed for pies of this period give the
impression that whatever was at hand was chucked in. Few recipes for beetroot
cooked in pies feature in modern cookbooks.
Recipes for Beetroot au gratin occur in
British cookbooks of the 1930s. It is a dish that has undergone a revival in
recent years, and can be served with meat and fish. Beetroot gratin benefits
from being made simply, with lemon juice, cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, and
breadcrumbs. Nevertheless, elaborate versions occur on restaurant menus. A
recent celebrity chef dish is Beetroot tarte tatin, basically beetroot
and apple stewed under a pastry crust, which is served upside down with, say,
coriander crème fraîche. Another dish from the menu of a fashionable
restaurant is Gratin of plums and apricots with beetroot sauce.
There are many variations on Beetroot risotto.
In one recipe, red onion and fennel are first added to butter, followed by
beetroot, tomatoes, Arborio rice, stock, lemon juice and parsley. Pancetta or
smoked bacon, carrots, mushrooms, peas and Parmesan cheese are also common
ingredients. One version includes a dash of vodka with lemon. In another,
half of a raw finely-shredded beetroot is cooked from the start, while the
other half is added towards the end of cooking. This has the advantage of
reviving the red colour of the risotto.
Beetroot juice is a common way of making
red-coloured pasta. Jamie Oliver gives a recipe for Beetroot pasta,
using pureed beetroot (in a little water), flour and eggs. He suggests
serving this red pasta with pesto sauce or mussels and white wine. Beetroot
can be can also be added to basil to make a red pesto sauce, or included in
the ingredients that make the stuffing for ravioli.
Pickling is a good way of preserving beetroot. Pickled
beetroot is usually preserved in malt vinegar, although white wine
vinegar or other vinegars can be used. Boiled or roasted beetroot are skinned
and packed into wide-mouthed sterilized glass jars. The vinegar is boiled
with salt and a range of spices, which can include allspice, cloves, cinnamon
and ginger. The vinegar is passed through a sieve into the jars, which are sealed
and stored for up to six months.
In Eastern Europe, pickled vegetables have been
popular for centuries, with their strong flavours providing a pleasing
contrast to the blandness of potatoes and bread. Pickled beetroot, cabbage,
cucumber and gherkin, for instance, have been staple items in Poland,
Lithuania, Russia and the Ukraine for many centuries, being stored in barrels
for winter consumption. Early German recipes for preserving beetroot can be
straightforward, but also include horseradish, anise, coriander or caraway,
and various vinegar and wine mixtures.
There are numerous recipes available today for
beetroot pickles. Jill Nice in her book Home-Made Preserves gives
several, including Küemmel's beetroot pickle. The name is misleading
and may be a mistranslation, as she explains, because küemmel is German for
caraway, which gives the pickle its distinctive taste. In addition to cooked
sliced beetroot and caraway seeds, the pickle contains soft brown sugar, sea
salt, ground pepper and malt vinegar. A Spiced beetroot pickle
contains malt vinegar, cinnamon, cloves, mace and allspice. A Hot beetroot
pickle contains malt vinegar, allspice, green ginger, horseradish and
cayenne pepper or dried chilli. A Sweet beetroot pickle contains extra
soft brown or white sugar. Pickled beetroot in the USA is often sweet; for
instance, the sweet-and-sour version called Harvard beets. After six
months, all types of beetroot pickle will start to become soft.
Jill Nice gives a recipe for Beetroot chutney
made from beetroot, onions, white wine vinegar, cooking apples, sultanas,
pickling spices, ginger and white sugar. Oranges can also be included in
beetroot chutneys. Madhur Jaffrey gives a beetroot chutney recipe from Tamil
Nadu in her book Flavours of India. Sweet beetroot chutney
(Beetroot pachhadi) contains grated beetroot, sugar, ground cardamom and
honey. This chutney keeps for about a week. The Middle Eastern turnip pickle Torshi
lift contains beetroot, which gives it a characteristic colour and
sweetness.
Beetroot juice can be used to make ice cream. At
least one British restaurant has Beetroot ice cream with cardamom on
its menu. This is the type of food that modern chefs delight in when
challenged the expectations of diners. If someone is told they are eating ice
cream, they expect something made from sweet ingredients. Heston Blumenthal
has written on this subject and tested various dishes to confirm that the
brain predisposes the palate to register more sweetness than is actually
present when desserts like ice cream are served.
At his restaurant, The Fat Duck in Bray,
England, Heston Blumenthal serves savoury ice creams, such as smoked bacon
and egg ice cream. A crab risotto is topped with crab ice cream, rather than,
say, frozen crab bisque. The restaurant also serves beetroot jellies.
Beetroot jelly first became (briefly) fashionable in England in the 1950s,
when moulds of salad containing pickled beetroot were set within blackcurrant
jelly. The Fat Ducks jellies, however, are served with petit fours and are
modelled on traditional pate de fruits. If tartaric acid is added to beetroot
to make jelly it becomes very much like eating blackcurrant, in colour and
taste, especially when glucose, sugar and pectin are added. One consumer when
told that a beetroot jelly they were eating was blackcurrant said it was delicious,
but when told an identical dish was beetroot they said it was disgusting!
There is nothing unusual about beetroot in ice
cream, however, because it is commonly added to commercial ice creams, in the
form of beetroot red colouring or E162. Strawberry ice cream and numerous
other processed food products contain the red colour of beetroot.
Beetroot has a relatively high sugar content for
a vegetable, and can be used in a number of dessert dishes instead of fruit,
including Beetroot sorbet. This is made from boiled beetroot, heated
and blended with apple juice, caster sugar, lemon juice, double cream, salt
and pepper. This mixture is chilled and mixed to freezing in an ice cream
maker.
Beetroot juice is consumed as a health drink. It
can be purchased from health food shops or made at home in a juicer. It is
renowned for its medicinal properties, as noted in Chapter Six.
Fermented beetroot juice (kvas) was encountered
earlier in this chapter, as an addition to borsch that gives it a tangy
flavour and revives its colour at the end of cooking. A considerable amount
of alcohol can be obtained from the distillation of beet roots, due to their
high sugar content. Home-stills in Eastern Europe have, on occasion, included
beetroot, fodder beet or sugar beet as an alternative to potato. Home-brewed
ales can be made from mangolds. In Southwest England, beetroot is sometimes
added to cider-apples during pressing to give cider a rich golden colour.
Beetroot is made into a robust wine. Beetroot
wine is popular among amateur winemakers worldwide. Yorkshire in England is
particularly associated with beetroot wine. Recipes for beetroot wine usually
involve boiling up sliced beetroot, with lemon juice and zest, white and/or
brown sugar, yeast and yeast extract or nutrient. In traditional British
recipes, the yeast is often spread on a slice of toasted bread (toast), which
supplies the nutrients, and this is floated on top of the liquid prior to
fermentation. Ginger, raisins, cloves and other ingredients can also be added
at this stage. Fermentation takes around three weeks, after which the wine is
placed in dark bottles, in a dark place, so its red colour is not
compromised. Beetroot wine can be drunk after about three months. However,
young beetroot wine can sometimes have an earthy flavour that is not to
everyone’s taste. Ageing the wine, for between one to two years, mellows its
flavour.
The term "beetroot" can be used to
describe a note in the taste of wines from the vine. It is listed in Michael
Broadbent's Wine Tasting, alongside such terms as farmyards,
geraniums, goats, petrol, rubber and sweaty mangoes.
In his book on the River Thames, Peter Ackroyd
notes that the riverside town of Buscot, upriver from London, was once known
for its brandy distilled from beetroot; he further notes that the beverage
was not universally popular.
Sugar (sucrose) is extracted from sugar beet in
factories. However, you don't necessarily need an industrial refinery to get
sugar out of a sugar beet. You can do it on your kitchen table, if the urge
takes you. Richters Herbs in the USA have supplied details, based on home
experiments. You will need an orange juicer, a percolator top, a large pan and
a meat slicer, grinder or grater. Firstly, take two washed sugar beet, each
weighing around 4-5 Kg (8-10 lbs), and put them through a slicing, grinding
or grating machine. Then boil the processed beet in ample water in a large
pan until soft and mushy (around one hour). Strain off the juice and reserve
the pulp (it can be fed to animals).
The next step is to purify the juice. For three
quarts of liquid, add half a cup of milk of lime (a suspension of calcium
hydroxide with a milky constituency) and a shot of seltzer water. Let the
juice stand for about two hours, after which time the semi-solids should have
settled to the bottom. The water is then carefully poured from the top.
The semi-solid sugar mass obtained after the
liquid has been poured off is cooked carefully and slowly. It takes around an
hour and a half to reduce it to a molasses-like thickness, stirring
frequently. When boiling is complete, around a cup and a half of a viscous
black liquid should remain. This reduced sugar mass is poured through a
percolator top into an orange juicer. The fast-spinning juicer separates the
molasses from the refined sugar. The juicer should be covered as the spinning
throws the white sugar onto the bowl of the juicer, while the molasses drips
through the spout into a waiting container. This should produce around a cup
of sugar, and half a cup of black-strap molasses (treacle). The damp white
sugar can be air-dried before use.
This survey has shown that Beta vulgaris
has been central to many culinary traditions, including Slav and Flemish
cuisine. Beetroot is likely to continue being an important staple in Central
and Eastern Europe. Its fortunes have fluctuated, however, in other parts of
the world.
Cooks in eighteenth century England made innovative
use of beetroot. However it subsequently suffered many years of neglect. In
British cookbooks, from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Cookery and Household
Management (1861), to Good Housekeeping (1944), and even to the
books of the 1960s, beetroot recipes tended to only call for the root to be
boiled or pickled. Beetroot has therefore primarily been associated with jars
of pickled boiled beetroot in Britain and a number of other countries. Many
people claim not to like beetroot, based solely on the experience of having
encountered pickled beetroot. To others, as Alastair Little puts it, the
perception of eating beetroot in acid vinegar has become so deeply imbued
that "many actually grow to love the sensation of putting something in
their mouths which causes involuntary pursing of the lips and a sudden
inhalation of air".
However, things have changed. Beetroot has
undergone a revival, especially in Western Europe. It has started to sever
its connection with the malt vinegar bottle and is being appreciated more by
lovers of fine food. Tangentially, Schott's Food and Drink Miscellany
lists a hierarchy of gastronomy, descending from the gastronome (a judge of
good eating and drinking), to the gourmet (a connoisseur), to the epicure
(with fine tastes), to the gourmand (takes pleasure in eating), to the goulu
(glutton) to the goinfre (greedy-guts). Beetroot has risen up this hierarchy
in recent years, being consumed once again by gourmets and epicureans.
Cooks updating traditional cuisine or searching
for new flavour combinations have rediscovered beetroot. The trend to mix
refined foods with humble foods has worked to elevate beetroot to new
respectability. You can eat beetroot in risottos, gratins, casseroles, in
innovative ways with meat and fish, in an ever-increasing range of vegetarian
dishes, in myriad salads, in a wide range of soups, as fritters and crisps,
mashed, moulded and soufflé and even in jellies and ice cream. The culinary
uses for beetroot have become more diverse than ever.
The trend towards beetroot during the 1990s in
fashionable restaurants, however, may not have entirely been a good thing. A
number of novelty dishes appeared that had more style than substance. Antonio
Carluccio for one thought that the use of beetroot to impart an unusual colour
to risottos and gnocchi was a nonsensical fad, producing dishes that appealed
to the eye but not necessarily to the palette. The fashion for beetroot in restaurants
may have peaked, but it is unlikely to go into a steep decline.
The times when beetroot was only eaten boiled or
pickled are long gone. In dishes with an honest and rustic air, to those with
sophistication and depth, beetroot is starting to again realize its
potential. However, beetroot still tends to be sold generically in markets
and supermarkets, while the cultivars of other vegetables are clearly
indicated. Moreover, the cultivars sold have largely been those developed for
ease of processing, rather than for distinctive taste. It is to be hoped that
beetroot's revival will continue and lead to consumers being able to purchase
globe, tankard and long-rooted varieties; minibeets and mature roots; and
golden, white and red beets.
Beetroot is being appreciated as a wholesome
vegetable with health-giving properties that can be prepared in many
different ways. It is a vegetable with attitude. Bold in colour and brash in
style, it demands attention. It is also now widely consumed around most of
the world, from North America, throughout Europe and the Middle East, to
Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. New approaches to beetroot are
arising from its spread into new cultures and culinary traditions. Its future
in the kitchen appears rosy.
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