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Ingredients
1 medium red beet, boiled and peeled
1/3 cup hibiscus flower
1 cup cooled beet and hibiscus cooking liquid
1 cup chopped canned pineapple, plus ½ cup pineapple juice
1 large frozen banana
1 cup ice
Makes 4 cups
Instructions
Place beet, hibiscus flower and 3 cups of cold water into a small saucepan. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, turn down to medium heat and simmer about 25 minutes or until you can easily pierce the beet with a knife. Strain, reserving the cooking liquid and place everything in the refrigerator to chill about 20 minutes.
Once chilled, peel the beet and add to the blender along with the hibiscus flower and 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Add pineapple and ½ cup of the canned pineapple juice, frozen banana and 1 cup of ice. Blend until smooth.
HEALTH NOTES
- Beets get a bad rap. People either love them or hate them. But beets have some pretty good health benefits. They are low calorie, a good source of fiber, potassium and Vitamin C. They are also believed to help lower blood pressure. For those not fans of red beets, give golden beets a try. There is also a beautiful variety called the chioggia or candy cane red and white striped beet which are still sweet yet milder in that earthy or dirt like flavor commonly associated with beets.
- A word about greens, beet greens. I think there's only one green I've tried that I can't get behind and that is dandelion greens. They're super bitter and remind me of weeds. But beet greens are delicious if you can find fresh beets with the greens still attached. Rinse them well and use them in salads or saute them like you would Swiss Chard. You can also blanch the entire leaf and stem and chop them up to freeze and use like frozen spinach later. They're a great source of antioxidants, iron and B6.