Why should you eat beetroot juice powder when you can buy fresh beetroot? It is a question that gets asked quite a lot. I love fresh beetroot juice, but have you ever tried to prepare it? If you have time and a good juicer then great but if you are rushed, getting ready for the school run, or trying to catch the early commuter train, then a powder that is the nutritional equivalent to raw beetroot juice would be a welcome addition to anyones kitchen cupboard!

I love my  apple, carrot and beetroot  juice, so how refreshing to quickly juice my apples and then toss in a spoonful of carrot and beetroot juice powder, give it a quick shake with a couple of ice cubes and drink. No messing with blood coloured raw beetroot and if I’m really pushed for time then just the powders will do just fine.

Until now the only powders on offer were the freeze dried variety and while it made the veg readily available, the taste was a bit like cardboard. Traditional freeze dried and dehydrating methods used for creating the beetroot juice powder left the powder deficient of the key nutrients as well as the flavour and colour.

Now a new technology from Zingology, removes the water molecules using a light process. This has enabled the powder to keep it’s enzymes, nutrients, colour and flavour intact, meaning that the powder is the closest you will find to eating the actual raw vegetable.

As well as adding water or juice to rehydrate the powder, you can bake, cook, sprinkle and stir making this truly versatile.

Use it in cake mixture for cupcakes, butter icing, add it when making fresh pasta, sprinkle on to salads, add to dressing and sauces or freeze the juice into ice lollies for the unsuspecting children.

So whether you are a foodie and love cooking, a sports enthusiast who wants to improve their sports performance, a health conscious individual who enjoys their daily juice (and wants to avoid the pasteurised or concentrates) or a parent looking for sneaky ways to encourage their family to eat their 7 a day, perhaps Zingology beetroot juice powder will become your next kitchen cupboard essential.

Zingology beetroot juice, Carrot juice, whole strawberry and whole raspberry powder is available from independent health stores, through wellbeingmagazine.com/shop or online through Ocado.com

Beetroot Juice Powder Recipe Idea

• place the leaves in a bowl, drizzle over the oil and balsamic, season and divide between 6 plates
• cut each log into 9 pieces (or 6 if log is small).
• Place one piece of goats cheese in the middle of each plate.  Sprinkle with a little beetroot powder and a few roast walnuts and then place another round of goats cheese on top and repeat.
• Cover with a third round of goats cheese, sprinkle with nuts and a good dusting of beetroot powder and serve

Recipe adapted by Heather Leeson, Nutritonist using Zingology Beetroot Powder

Beetroot Juice could lower blood pressure

Researchers, led by Amrita Ahluwalia, PhD, professor of vascular pharmacology at The Barts and The London Medical School, have reported that just a cup of beetroot juice per day may help reduce blood pressure. Their findings were published in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Hypertension.

They found that a dose of one cup of the beetroot juice could help people with high blood pressure drop their readings by about 7 percent. The researchers believe it is the high nitrate concentration in the root which leads to this effect.

“Our hope is that increasing one’s intake of vegetables with a high dietary nitrate content, such as green leafy vegetables or beetroot, might be a lifestyle approach that one could easily employ to improve cardiovascular health,” Ahluwalia said in a statement.

The beetroot juice used in the study contained about 0.2g of dietary nitrate, the equivalent of what would be found in two beetroots. The body converts nitrate to nitrite and then to nitric oxide in the blood. Nitric oxide is known to widen blood vessels and aids with blood flow.

[product id=”360″ sku=”ZBEE207C”]