ABSTRACT
Red beet (Beta vulgaris, and also known as beetroot, table beet, garden beet, or blood turnip) is a popular vegetable all over the world. This vegetable plant is a considerable source of vitamins C and B (B1, B2, B6) and minerals, among others Ca, Fe, K, Mg, and P, and moreover, it contains a relatively high level of folic acid (Wang and Goldman 1997; Váli et al. 2007; Sárdi et al. 2009). However, the most important bioactive agents of the red beet are the water-soluble plant pigments, the betalains. These nitrogen-containing pigments, which are synthesized from the amino acid tyrosine, are composed of two main groups, the red betacyanins and the yellow betaxanthins. The red beet betalains contain two major soluble pigments, the betanin (red) and the vulgaxanthin I (yellow) (Azeredo 2009). Betanin is the main coloring component present in the E-162 food color additive. Although the tops of the plant red beet can be cooked or served fresh as greens, the root is the most valuable part of the plant, which may be eaten fresh; however, the market for fresh beets is relatively small; the processed beet is the major outlet for beetroot, where it is cooked and pickled whole, sliced, or diced, and moreover it can be consumed as juice or in fermented form (Masalkar and Keskar 1998).
