Beets , beetroot juice , how ?

Question

ok, so i brought beets yesterday , first timer , until yesterday i got no idea what it was . i know , weird

anyway when i brought them , the outside have a dark brown color

like this :

http://everybitterthingissweet.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/transparent-red-beet-by-d**k.gif

the inside is so bloody red color it almost look black .

my question is --

is it old ? can i still use it ?

what is beetroot juice ? how do i make it ?

plz answer. thx

Answer 1

Oddly enough I did all of my PhD research on beet juice.  What you have is normal beets although I'm a little surprised they are brown on the outside.  They are supposed to be red on the inside, very red depending on the variety.  

Of course you can use it.  Beetroot juice is the extract from these vegetables.  The easiest way to get the juice is to grind the beets up in a food processor and then squeeze the juice out.  It's such a dark color because there is so much pigment there.  We were actually looking at it as a food colorant and in fact some manufacturers are using beet juice a s a colorant.  It works great (with some limitations).

PhD  Food Chemistry and Nutrition