Beetroot: Prep

Clean your beetroot with a scrubbing brush and water. Don’t top and tail them with a knife since they’ll bleed from cuts, losing flavour and colour. If using raw in salads, peel with a veg peeler at this stage. Otherwise, the skin is easier to remove after the beet has been cooked: simply rub it or slip it off like a jacket.

Depending on age and soil bacteria, beetroot vary in flavour and texture, from sweet and dense to quite bitter and a little soft. Small and sweet, they’re excellent raw and in salads; bigger and older ones need more help from sugar, vinegar and spices.