Why You Can't Beat Red Beets

Why You Can’t Beat Red Beets

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Searching for a new ingredient to bring extra flavor, color, and nutrition to your food products? Dehydrated red beets have all three, making them a popular choice for healthful food offerings. Red beets bring body and an earthy, slightly sweet taste to recipes; and also provide a source of natural red food coloring, perfect for consumers who wish to avoid artificial colors.

Beets have become a trendy superfood over the past few years, and their star is still on the rise. In their raw form, beets are often tied to creative and trendy salads, yet the uses for beets in dehydrated forms extend well beyond veggie-lovers — dried red beets fit into crunchy snacks, pasta, seasonings, and even desserts. The best part is that your informed and diet-conscious consumers can appreciate the nutritious value beets bring to the ingredients list.

Let’s look at the benefits dehydrated beets offer, and how you can use this ingredient to boost your food products in the eyes of your consumers.

How are Dehydrated Red Beets Produced?

At Seawind Foods, our red beets are chosen for production when they are perfectly ripe. They are washed, trimmed, cut, and finally dried by controlled jets of heated air. The dehydrated beet pieces are sorted and sifted, then screened to the necessary size.

Seawind Foods offers dehydrated red beets diced in 10x10mm or 5x5mm pieces; in granulated form; or as a powder (-60 mesh).

What are the Health Benefits of Red Beets?

In recent years, beets have gained a reputation as a superfood. Beets contain a number of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, including B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, potassium, manganese, and magnesium. Some evidence suggests that consuming red beets may help triglyceride levels and reduce blood pressure.

Your health-conscious consumers will love the fact that beets are low in calories, fat, and sodium — making them a favorable addition to your ingredient list, especially for those who focus on maintaining a healthy diet.

How Can You Use Dehydrated Red Beets?

In their various forms — diced, granulated, or powdered — dried red beets are so versatile that it’s hard to imagine where they don’t fit in! Many food products and recipes can be enhanced by the addition of dehydrated red beets, whether for flavor, color, or just some added nutritional value. Below are just a few examples of the wide variety of packaged consumer goods, restaurant dishes, and other food products in which dehydrated red beets are used.

Baked Goods

The sweetness of dried beets adds dimension to many baked goods. Red beets lend rich flavor and color to items such as packaged mixes for brownies, cakes, and cookies. Unsurprisingly, they are a popular ingredient for baked red velvet treats, as they help lend the red-tinted color these desserts are known for.

Chips

Dried beet chips are a popular snack on their own, but beets also can be a useful ingredient in other types of chips. For instance, you can add red beets to dough recipes which will then be fried or baked into chips. The beets will contribute a red color and earthy notes to the flavor profile.

Pasta

Vegetable-based pasta has soared in popularity in recent years, and beets are an excellent addition to your veggie pasta products. Dried red beets provide a pop of red or pink shades, and lend a unique flavor to pasta dishes and dried, packaged pasta.

Smoothies

Add powdered red beets to packaged smoothie mixes for extra nutritional content and vivid color. Your health-conscious consumers will appreciate the added health benefits, and your young consumers are certain to love the bright, photo-worthy red look.

Soups, Sauces and Spreads

Dried red beets are perfect for use in packaged mixes for soups, sauces, dressings, and gravies. You can also try it in spreads such as hummus or aioli for an exciting new twist.

Seasonings

Creative chefs already use beets in a multitude of dishes for a unique source of color and flavor, and this inspiration carries into many products you’d find on the grocery shelves. Dried red beets make an exciting addition to packaged marinades, dry rubs, or other seasonings for meat — such as a char siu chicken recipe which traditionally calls for red food dye.

Red Beets Bring Nutrition with a Colorful Flair

If you want to add more flavor or color to your food offerings, without relying solely on artificial flavorings and colorings, dried red beets may be just the ingredient you need. For more information about ordering dried red beets for use in your food products, get in touch with the expert team at Seawind Foods. Our dehydrated red beets come in both conventional and organic varieties, and are available in your choice of three dehydrated forms: diced in 10x10mm or 5x5mm pieces; in granulated form; or as a powder (-60 mesh). Contact us to request a product sample today.