How to preserve the color of beets when cooking: 5 simple life hacks

The nutrients in beets are very beneficial. There are many recipes using this vegetable. It is important for housewives that it looks bright and rich on the dish. This especially applies to vinaigrette, borscht, and beetroot soup. It is worth listing ways to preserve the color of a red root vegetable during cooking.

How to cook red borscht so that the beets do not lose color. Nuances

This question may seem strange to some. Red beets - red borscht. Everything seems to be obvious. However, if you add vegetables to the soup incorrectly, the beets may lose color and the dish will not look very appetizing.

What should I do? After all, in theory, beets take longer to cook than all other vegetables and should go into the pan first?!

The answer is simple. Beets should not be added to the broth. It should be stewed in a frying pan along with carrots and onions. To fix the color, be sure to add a little vinegar or citric acid.

Meat broth for borscht should be rich. Therefore, you need to cook it on the bone for at least 2 hours. Next add potatoes and cabbage. Once the vegetables are cooked, the final step is to add the beetroot dressing. Cook the beets in the soup after adding them for no more than 5 minutes.

But there’s no need to rush here either. After removing from heat, the soup should sit for at least an hour. This way the beets will add color and flavor to the other ingredients.

So, we conclude:

1. Beets need to be cooked separately in the form of borscht dressing, without adding a large amount of water;
2. There you must add a tablespoon of vinegar or citric acid;
3. After placing it in the soup, remove from heat for 5 minutes.

By adding finely chopped tomato to the beetroot dressing, you will get an even richer color and aroma!

Why does the soup turn pale?

First of all, let's figure out what causes the loss of color and how to make sure that the beets in the soup do not turn pale, but are red. The fact is that the pigment that gives beets and all borscht a rich red hue is not very stable. The color of beets is destroyed by two factors:

1. Long-term heat treatment. The pigment is not thermally stable, and therefore, during prolonged cooking or frying, it disintegrates.
2. Alkaline environment. It is provided by a number of products - beans, cabbage or carrots. Borscht without cabbage is the same nonsense as without beets.

Hence the conclusion: in order for the borscht to retain its bright red color, the beets cannot be digested in it, and contact with alkali must be avoided for a longer time. Now let's see how this all looks in practice.

Advice

All recommendations given below are indicative only. There is no single canonical recipe, for violation of which a heretic is excommunicated from cooking.

Borscht with fresh cabbage and beets according to the classic recipe (recipe 1)

This recipe is the most popular among experienced housewives. For beginners, we will look at it step by step.

Ingredients for 3 liters of water:

1. Beef on the bone 1kg
2. Fresh cabbage 500g
3. 4-5 potatoes
4. 1 carrot
5. 1 onion
6. 2 tbsp tomato paste
7. 2 cloves garlic
8. salt
9. spices for borscht
10. 2 tbsp vinegar

Rinse the meat and place in a saucepan. Cook over low heat after boiling for an hour.

The readiness of beef is determined by the degree to which the meat separates from the bone.

While the broth is preparing, let's prepare the vegetables.
Shred the cabbage using a vegetable slicer or knife. Cut the peeled potatoes into cubes. Peel the beets and carrots and cut into strips. Finely chop the onion. Once the meat is cooked, you need to remove it and separate it from the bone. Then cut it into pieces.

To make the broth clear, skim off the foam that arises during the cooking process more often!

Add the chopped meat to the boiling broth.
Cabbage goes there too. ...and potatoes. We send the beets with the addition of tomato paste to simmer in a frying pan hot with oil. After 10 minutes, add vinegar and wait a couple more minutes. Then remove from heat. We also sauté carrots and onions until golden brown. Add onions, carrots and beets to the soup. Garlic is an important part of borscht! We add it, after chopping it with a knife, at the very end of cooking. It gives borscht that unique aroma and taste!

Remove the pan from the heat, let the borscht “rest” for 30 minutes and proceed to tasting with sour cream and herbs. Bon appetit!

How to cook Ukrainian borscht with sauerkraut and meat (recipe 2)

Borscht is a multinational dish. Many countries are fighting for the title of homeland of this soup. However, it is Ukrainian borscht that is most famous throughout the world. What's special about it? Try it!

To prepare we will need:

1. 2 small or one medium beets
2. 1 carrot
3. 6 medium potatoes
4. 300g sauerkraut
5. 1 large onion 4 cloves garlic
6. 1kg beef on the bone
7. 1 tbsp granulated sugar
8. 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
9. salt, pepper, seasonings to taste.

Wash the meat and let it cook over low heat after boiling for 1-1.5 hours. Salt the broth. Don't forget to remove the foam using a slotted spoon. While the meat is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Peel the potatoes and chop into cubes.

Finely chop the onion, cut the beets and carrots into strips.

The onion is sent first for sautéing. Fry it until golden brown. Next, carrots are sent there, followed by beets.

Borscht starts with broth

Borscht is usually cooked in a strong meat broth made from good beef, pork or chicken, and if you decide to use beef, use brisket as it is softer and juicier. Some housewives add lamb bones to the broth to make the soup more rich, others cook borscht with duck, goose and rabbit, others make do with minced meat and stew, and some manage to cook a vegetarian version of real Ukrainian borscht. If you are making meat broth, simmer it for as long as possible to create a richer broth. Boil the bones for 5–6 hours, and the meat for about 2.5 hours, just remember to skim off the foam. During the cooking process, you can add an onion, carrots, celery and a bunch of herbs to the meat to enrich the taste of the broth. After cooking is complete, the vegetables are removed from the pan, the broth is filtered, the meat is separated from the bones, cut into pieces and added to the broth, sometimes with ham, sausages and homemade sausage.

Types of borscht

It should be noted that there is no single method of preparing borscht. Everything is prepared differently: with poultry, lard, mushrooms, beans, fish. And according to European standards, it should not contain pork. Only one ingredient remains constant - beets. All borscht recipes are divided into two groups:

• Cold. They prefer to cook it in the hot season without using meat. Pickled and boiled beets are used as a base, parsley, onions, dill, garlic, sausage, boiled eggs and fermented milk products are added.
• Hot (red). Its preparation takes a lot of time; housewives use meat broth, beets and many other vegetables. And you must cook it so that the beets do not lose color in the borscht. The dish is served with garlic, sometimes with donuts instead of bread.

Mistake No. 9. Eat right away

We often advertise a dish by serving it to guests: piping hot, piping hot. In the case of seasoning soups, this is bad advertising. Soups, in particular borscht, should be allowed to stand for at least 15 minutes. This is necessary for the soup to brew, for the vegetables to release their aroma and taste into the liquid, for the salt and spices to be evenly distributed throughout the soup.

And borscht to the rescue. How much benefit do beets actually have? Read more

There are a great many recipes for borscht. You can see successful recipes, for example, here>>>

What is added to borscht?

Borscht is a source of vitamins, so all vegetables must be fresh and of high quality. The main products needed to prepare a tasty, rich and aromatic first meal:

• Meat. Everyone has different preferences: a mixture of beef and lamb, pork ribs, poultry (goose, duck, chicken or turkey legs), a selection of smoked meats with lard.
• Vegetables. For a rich red color, choose dark and sweet beets. Hard potatoes are taken, and for a thick soup, boiled vegetables are used, adding fresh juicy cabbage and ripe tomatoes. In addition, you will need carrots and onions.
• Seasonings. To enhance the taste, add black pepper - peas and ground. Significantly improves the aroma of garlic and herbs, consisting of dill, parsley and celery. Finally, you need to add the bay leaf.
• Various additives. You can add fish and canned fish, mushrooms, beans and even dried fruits to the borscht. The main thing is not to make a mistake in combining products.

It is advisable to try everything and not be afraid to experiment. And the most important thing is that the beets in the borscht do not lose color and that it looks bright, colorful and rich.

How to quickly cook beets?

Many dishes are prepared from boiled beets. It is not recommended to peel it and cut off the root before cooking and baking, otherwise it will lighten and lose mineral salts. After washing thoroughly, place it in boiling water and close the lid tightly. To speed up the cooking process proceed as follows:

• put a saucepan with beets on the fire and cook it for an hour;
• remove from heat and keep under running cold water for 10 minutes;
• cook large root vegetables over the fire again for a third of an hour;
• cool - and the vegetable is ready.

Beetroot in borscht does not lose color if you add half a teaspoon of sugar per liter of water when cooking it. The same effect will occur when adding citric acid and vinegar. It should be noted that in the best varieties of beets, the root crop has a flattened shape and thin skin.

Recipe for cold borscht based on kefir

This method of preparing this dish is considered less common.
You will need: - low-fat kefir - 1 liter; - beets - 500 g; - fresh cucumbers - 30 g; - eggs - 3 pcs.; - green onions - 1 bunch; - dill - 1 bunch; - salt, pepper - to taste. Carefully Wash the beets, wrap them in foil and bake for an hour in the oven at medium temperature, cool. If desired, you can simply boil the beets. Grind the finished beets through a large grater. Boil and cool the eggs. Chop them into small cubes. Wash the cucumbers and cut into cubes. Pre-prepare finely chopped greens. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl or saucepan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour kefir over the product mixture and stir. You can leave the soup to brew for a short time in the refrigerator. Since the dish can turn out to be very thick, if you wish, you can dilute it with cooled boiled water. However, it is not recommended to add more than one liter of water. Before serving, you can garnish the soup with chopped half an egg and herbs. Video on the topic

Note!

If you use beet kvass to preserve color, do not add any other acid. Useful advice The best varieties for heat treatment are those with slightly flattened roots and darker skin. It is best to cut beets into strips. Beet kvass prepared for future use can be stored in the freezer in small plastic containers.

How to preserve the color of beets without vinegar?

Often pureed beets are used for borscht and salads. In order for its color to remain juicy and bright, it is thickly sprinkled with table salt and left in a plate for some time until it is completely dissolved. In this case, it is necessary to stir periodically so that all the contents are completely saturated. As soon as the salt has dissolved, the beets are watered with vegetable oil to consolidate the effect. The resulting mass is added to borscht. There is no need to be afraid that the color of the beets will change when boiling. This description will answer the question of how to preserve the color of beets in borscht? You just need to remember that the beets were salted and not to over-salt the soup.

Useful properties of pine kvass

Pine kvass is a real healer; it contains a significant amount of natural antibiotic.
Most sanatoriums for tuberculosis patients and people with other respiratory diseases are located in pine forests. By regularly drinking pine kvass, you can cleanse your lungs, blood and entire body from various infections. The drink also contains a lot of microelements, which the body really needs in winter. Pine kvass strengthens blood vessels, bones, and has anti-inflammatory properties. Improves memory, visual function, restores youth to the skin, making it elastic and smooth. This happens thanks to the substances contained in pine kvass, which stimulate the growth and restoration of collagen fibers.

Antioxidants

Copper coniferous kvass is beneficial due to its high content of antioxidants. These are substances that are extremely necessary in the modern world. Poor ecology, poor quality nutrition, polluted air, water - all this leads to the formation of free radicals in the human body. Those, in turn, “trigger” many negative processes in the body: atherosclerosis, oncology, problems with the immune system, the appearance of chronic foci of inflammation.

Antioxidants fight free radicals, “bad” cholesterol, hangovers, and have a positive effect on metabolism. Pine kvass contains resveratrol, the strongest plant antioxidant. In terms of the strength of its effect on the body, it is 50 times stronger than vitamin E, 20 times stronger than ascorbic acid, and 5 times stronger than beta-carotene. As scientists have proven, this substance, when taken regularly, can extend the life cycle of the body by almost two times.

Resveratrol prevents age-related changes from taking full effect and affects genes, preventing the development of various mutations in them. In addition, it limits the amount of fat accumulation in the body, and not only prevents their deposition, but also promotes breakdown, therefore it acts as an effective means of combating excess weight.

Bioflavonoids

Pine kvass is rich in valuable substances such as flavonoids. Among them, dihydroquercetin ranks first, the healing power of which far exceeds the effect of all other substances in this group. The chemical compound has an active and diverse effect on the human body:

• normalizes the concentration of triglycerides and cholesterol in the blood;
• destroys blood clots in blood vessels;
• slows down the wear and tear of the body;
• restores damaged gastric mucosa;
• produces a diuretic effect;
• improves coronary circulation;
• strengthens the heart muscle;
• reduces the side effects of chemotherapy;
• prevents pathologies of the visual organs;
• has an antiviral effect;
• increases immunity;
• Helps prevent cancer, diabetes, and brain diseases.

Chef's tips for preparing borscht

In order to be able to cook tasty and beautiful borscht, let’s listen to the advice of a professional. He makes the following recommendations:

• Meat. For borscht, a lean piece is more suitable, preferably without bones, which produces a darker and cloudier broth, and also gives off a specific smell. Before cooking, meat must be thoroughly washed.
• Bouillon. It is definitely recommended to cook over low heat. With strong bubbling, the broth becomes cloudy. To improve the taste, onions are added to it - it clears the turbidity, carrots - it gives a beautiful color, celery - it improves the taste.
• Beet. For borscht, only raw beets are used.
• Roasting. It is made from carrots, onions and beets. To prevent the beets from losing their color in the borscht, the vegetables are stewed in a small amount of oil with the addition of broth over low heat. At the same time, they give off all their aroma and acquire a rich hue.
• Acidify. A small amount of tomato paste is added to the finished frying to add a special taste and color. Lemon juice or dry wine is sometimes used for acidification.
• Salt. Salt is added before the beets are planted so as not to spoil the color.
• How to preserve the color of beets in borscht? To do this, only after the potatoes and cabbage are ready, they put the fry into the pan and do not boil anymore.
• Insist. Cooked borscht must sit for at least half an hour; during this time, the vegetables will give their flavor to the broth.
• To warm. The finished soup can be heated, but cannot be boiled, otherwise it will become cloudy and its color will deteriorate.

Other useful tips

There are some additional tricks to help preserve the color of borscht when cooking:

• When frying, you can add a little (literally a couple of pinches) of sugar and flour. This mixture will caramelize the beet chunks and keep the juice from leaking too much. However, in this case you need to add it literally grain by grain - and stir the frying often, otherwise the taste and smell of burnt sugar will kill the entire dish.
• In addition to a piece of raw beets, you can add beet juice to the borscht. To do this, grind raw beets, squeeze out the juice through cheesecloth or simply with your fingers. The beets themselves are sauteed with carrots and tomato paste - but the collected juice is poured into the pan literally a couple of minutes before they are ready.
• Finally, the color of borscht very much depends on the color of the beets. If you take sugar or hybrid beets instead of red beets, no matter how hard you try, you won’t get a bright color: both sugar beets and their random hybrids with red beets produce only pale pink, yellowish or colorless juice. But good varieties of table beets (such as Kuban borscht) have a bright and rich color.

Add acid to make borscht red

The aromatic and rich color of the soup stimulates the appetite and brings pleasure while eating. But here’s the problem: beets often lose color in borscht. What to do? You can give the soup a bright burgundy hue in different ways. One of them is adding acid. For this use:

• Apple or wine vinegar - sprinkle on beets before stewing them.
• Tomato paste - added during the preparation of stewed beets.
• Lemon juice – add a small amount of juice at the beginning of sautéing. It is used by those who do not like vinegar.

In order for the borscht to turn out beautiful and bright, you need to try several methods and choose the best one.

Acid will help

Don't be alarmed, we won't add hydrochloric or sulfuric acid to the borscht. Let's leave them for experiments in chemistry lessons. Tomato paste, vinegar or lemon will save us. The acid will help the beets remain bright (but this does not mean that after this treatment they will be digestible).

To turn the soup burgundy, use one of the following methods.

1. Sauté beets separately from other vegetables. After placing it in the frying pan, immediately pour in tomato paste and simmer.
2. If you don't mind borscht with vinegar (some are against adding it to this soup), you can use another method. Before sautéing, sprinkle the beets with a small amount of vinegar and mix well. Don't overdo it! Vinegar must be of good quality so as not to spoil the taste of borscht. It is better not to use a regular canteen. It is more advisable to take wine, apple or raspberry vinegar. The taste and aroma of the soup will be softer.
3. Would you like some vinegar? The color of beets can be preserved by using lemon juice. Everything is the same: add a small amount at the beginning of sauteing.

Acid-treated beets are added to the soup last, after all other vegetables. Otherwise, it may prevent the potatoes or cabbage from cooking well.

A few secrets to keep borscht bright

Some people don't like or can't eat fried vegetables, then there are other ways to make borscht a rich, bright color. How to preserve the color of beets when cooking borscht without resorting to frying? To do this proceed as follows:

1. Remove the meat from the prepared broth and place in the previously peeled and halved beets. Add the remaining vegetables to the broth. After a third of an hour, take out the beets, grate them and, after all the vegetables are ready, add them to the pan. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat, leaving to infuse.
2. Boil the beets in their skins. To do this, after thoroughly washing the vegetable, place it in boiling unsalted water and cook for an hour. Grate the beets and add to the prepared borscht, which is left on the fire for another two minutes.
3. Grate cleanly washed and peeled raw beets. Place in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. After this, start preparing the borscht. Add beets to the fully prepared soup and simmer for about five minutes.

If the option you chose did not give the desired result, experiment again. Next, we will discuss why beets lose color when cooking borscht.

Do I need to salt the water when cooking beets?

Under no circumstances should beets be peeled or the tail cut off before cooking. If you break the integrity of the beets, the juice will leak out and the beets will become watery. - There is no need to salt the water during cooking. ... - after cooking, immediately drain the water and pour cold water over the beets for a few minutes.

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Cooking tricks

Many are at a loss as to why the beautiful red color of borscht at the beginning of cooking loses its attractiveness towards the end and becomes yellowish. The secret is this:

• Long-term processing of beets. When adding beets immediately after the broth is ready, the pigment is digested and the broth takes on an unattractive color. The beets are added when the soup is completely ready and kept on the fire for no more than five minutes. On the second day, when heating the borscht, do not bring it to a boil so as not to spoil the color of the broth.
• Use special varieties of beets. The beauty and taste of your borscht depend on the type of root vegetable you choose. Salad varieties of beets that have a dark burgundy color when cut are well suited.

How to cook red borscht without meat?

The shade of the borscht broth, in fact, does not affect its taste, but the burgundy color stimulates the appetite and makes it more attractive. How to preserve the red color of beets in borscht if you cook it without meat? Let's consider two ways:

1. The beets are cooked separately: they are washed, placed with the peel in a pan of boiling water and cooked until tender for about an hour. It is not advisable to add salt, as this will make it hard. Take out the finished beets, grate them on a coarse grater or cut them and add them to the already prepared borscht, bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Infuse and serve with sour cream.
2. The vegetable is baked in the oven: pre-washed beets are wrapped in foil and placed in a preheated oven for about 50 minutes. After this, they are taken out, cooled, rubbed and added to the prepared borscht without meat. Leave the pan on the heat for another minute or two and the soup is ready. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes and you’re ready to eat.

Everything is done very simply. To make it beautiful and tasty, try different options.

How to correct cooking mistakes

If, despite all efforts, it was not possible to get bright red borscht and it has lost its brightness, you can try to take emergency measures:

• Add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste to the already prepared borscht, stir well and bring to a boil, but do not boil. Then let it brew for at least half an hour. Often the paste corrects the color of the broth.
• Additionally, boil another small beetroot, then grate it on a coarse grater, add it to the hot, but not boiling borscht and also let it brew.

None of these methods gives a 100% result. It’s easier to cook beautiful borscht right away than to correct its color later.

Although the main advantage of borscht is its taste, not its color, cooking rich red beetroot soup is a matter of honor for many cooks. There are many ways to achieve this shade. Which one will be the most effective can only be found out by trying them in practice.

Housewives' secret: the reddest borscht

Many housewives try a large number of different recipes for preparing borscht, a soup that has millions of fans. The trick is how to cook the borscht to preserve the color of the beets. Here is one of them:

• Peel the beets and cut them into 4-6 pieces.
• Dip the pieces into the prepared boiling broth and cook for a quarter of an hour.
• Add to the pan everything that is needed according to the recipe: vegetables, meat, herbs, spices in the usual order and quantity.
• After the potatoes and cabbage are ready, turn off the heat and remove the beet pieces. They will look pale and undercooked, but housewives claim that this is how it should be.
• Cool the beets a little and grate them. It turns out that the color stays bright inside.
• Add it to the soup, stir and leave for about 15 minutes. You can no longer boil the borscht.

According to the proposed recipe, the borscht turns out to be bright, very rich beetroot color and pleasant taste. Housewives claim that they have never seen more colorful borscht.

Why do beets lose color in borscht?

Real borscht is a soup that is always rich pink-red in color. But many housewives complain that after cooking, the borscht takes on a pale orange or even brown tint. What is the reason? Improper preparation of the product. Experts give the following advice:

• To stew, vegetables must be chopped, not grated.
• Particular attention is paid to the beet variety. It should be salad-like with a thin peel and slightly flattened in shape. The cut is dark, without whitish streaks.
• Vegetables must be stewed and before finishing, add a little acetic acid, lemon juice or tomato paste.
• After adding the frying, the borscht is not boiled, but only brought to a boil and immediately turned off.

Once ready, the soup is infused and served. It does not lose color the next day.

Red borscht in a slow cooker

The ingredients are still the same, nothing new:

• The meat is washed and cooked in a separate pan for five minutes. Then the contents are poured into a slow cooker, chopped vegetables, except beets, are added. Add salt, herbs and seasonings. The timer is set for 20 minutes.
• While everything is boiling, prepare the beets: they are washed, peeled and grated or cut with a knife. Add oil to the frying pan and simmer the vegetable until tender, adding a little water. To preserve the color, you can add a little sugar and pour the entire contents into a slow cooker. The borscht, tasty and bright in color, is ready.

It should be noted that any skill comes with experience.

Boil or fry?

Beetroot for borscht can be pre-boiled or fried with vegetable oil. Both options have the right to life. The vegetable can be boiled whole or in pieces and even steamed. This process takes considerable time, although there are some tricks to make it faster.

When frying or stewing, beets are grated or very finely chopped. Then it becomes soft very quickly. But there is a risk of overcooking the vegetable, which will cause it to lose its pigment, become dry and not as tasty.

So you also need to be careful when frying.