The secrets of root vegetables

Beetroot is a permanent part of the agricultural botanical garden at the museum.

Discover the culinary treasures of the Middle Ages: from the magical healing properties of beetroot to the sumptuous servings of salted mutton and pickled beetroot at festive tables!

We know very little about the use of root vegetables in prehistoric times and the Middle Ages. What we know about medieval gardening is concentrated around the monastery gardens, where foreign monks from around 1100 began to establish gardens with special medicinal plants. New studies are beginning to document that the Danes in the Middle Ages had kitchen gardens, where vegetables and berries were part of the daily diet. Let us begin with the earliest information, namely medical or herbal books, of which the physician Henrik Harpestreng (d. 1244) is the best known:

Beetroot – The exciting thing about beetroot is that it is said to be beneficial for coughs and stomach upsets. Several medical books recommend beetroot to help with digestive problems, for example, drinking beetroot juice with hot wine seems to be effective, or you could prepare beetroot like cabbage for a weak stomach. It is also mentioned that beetroot gives clear vision and in a slightly more cheerful perspective, the good advice is given that frostbitten hands and feet should be treated with a mash of boiled beetroot!

As early as the mid-17th century, it is reported that women pickled beets with: "horseradish cubes and caraway seeds for winter use”. In the book “Instructions for Gardening for the Danish Farmer” by Johan Christian Steen, which was published in 1799, it is written about beetroot that “These roots are already used a lot by some farmers for feasts and festive evenings, and although they are not as good for preservation as other roots, they are still very useful when they are first boiled in water, unscraped and as they are absorbed by the soil, and then absorbed by this water, peeled and cut into slices, which slices are put in a pot with some cumin in between and poured with good vinegar. They can be absorbed by the vinegar whenever you want and eaten with roasts. They are as healthy as they are pleasant, especially with a fat roast goose. The somewhat uniform use is confirmed in Jacob Jacobsen's "Garden Book for Farmers" from 1809, where the following is stated: "Beetroot is boiled and put in vinegar and used for roasting." Less common were baked beets, as it was said that grandmothers baked them tender in the oven. In earlier times, beets were dried and roasted and used as a coffee substitute!

In Henrik Ussing's book "Fra Hedeboegnen", beetroot is attributed a special role in wedding traditions: “The day before the feast, the closest neighbors came to help with the cooking and serving. Pork was boiled, which was put in brine, boiled beets were peeled, carrots were scraped and potatoes were peeled. The beets went into the soup in which the meat and pork were cooked. Soup was always eaten for dinner on the day the preparations for the feast took place. The feast day itself was covered with the following dishes: butter, cheese, salted and smoked mutton, sausage rolls, bacon, pickles, beets and sieved bread.”Other commemorative materials also mention the maternity parties, where the tables were set with butter, cheese, jam, beetroot, salted mutton and sausage rolls.

Root vegetables are only a small part of the Green Museum's agricultural botanical garden, which is currently in all its glory.

Henrik Ussing's book From the Hedeboegnen