№№4-6(71-73), сəуір-маусым, апрель-июнь, April-June, 2013
ISSN 2307-0250
Žas āalymdar žaršysy – Vestnik molodyh učenyh – Messenger of young scientist
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Red beets get their color from a pigment called «betalain». Betalain is also
responsible for the red color of bougainvillea and amaranth. Pliny the Elder wrote that
beets were easily digested but that some doctors believed them to be more harmful to the
digestive system than cabbage.
Some Roman physicians believed that beets needed to be boiled twice if one wanted
to avoid gas and stomach aches. The Romans considered beet juice to be an aphrodisiac.
The Romans spread beets throughout the Roman Empire.
In 812 AD, Charlemagne issued a «Regulation concerning landed property» that
registered beets as something to be cultivated on the Imperial estates. Borscht is an Eastern
European soup made from beets that has been an important winter staple in countries like
Russia and Poland since the 14th century.
In 1975, during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, cosmonauts from the USSR's Soyuz
19 welcomed the Apollo 18 astronauts by preparing a banquet of borscht squeezed from
tubes and other treats. Since the 16th century, beet juice has been used as a natural red dye.
It was even used as a hair dye. The commercial cultivation of sugar beets began in the 19th
century in France and Belgium.
Sugar beets are about 20% sugar while beets or beetroot are usually no more than
10% sugar. In Australia, pickled beets are commonly put on hamburgers.
Beets are sometimes used to make homemade wine. Some people are susceptible to
«beeturia», the passing of red colored urine and stools after eating beets. Beeturia is
harmless but is often mistaken for the dangerous conditions of blood in the urine or stool.
Today there are several varieties of commercially grown beets. The most common
variety in the United States is the Red Ace. One cup of beets contains about 75 calories.
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