Varro’s Beets
aliter betacios Varrones: Varro: betacios sed nigros quorum detegsas radices et mulsu decoctas cum sale modico et oleo, uel sale aqua et oleo in se coctas; iusculum facere et potari; melius etiam si in eo pullus sit decoctus.
Another way, Varro's beets: Varro says: take beets, but the dark ones, whose roots you strip bare and cook down in honeyed wine with a little salt and oil, or cook in their own juices with salt, water, and oil; make a broth of it and drink it; better still if a chicken has been cooked in it.
Varro (116–27 BC) was a Roman scholar who wrote on an enormous range of subjects, from farming to the Latin language. Most of his work is now lost.
Ingredients
- 600g beetroot
- 300 ml white wine
- 40 g honey
- Pinch of salt
- 2 Tb olive oil
Method
Cut the beetroot in bite-sized chunks. Place into a saucepan along with remaining ingredients, and simmer for 20–30 minutes or until the beetroot is cooked.