Here is a cooling beetroot salsa with Bramley apples perfect for dipping tortilla chips into at parties.
Salsa is generally associated with tomatoes but beetroot salsa with Bramley apples makes a less predictable alternative. If you were making salsa but realised you didn’t have enough tomatoes, pickled beetroot in jars are a convenient alternative. You can keep pickled beetroot in the store cupboard or fridge long term and it brings colour to salads and salsas.
This beetroot salsa recipe also uses Bramley apples. I recently attended a lunch event hosted by Bramley and was intrigued to learn that these apples were only grown in the UK. Poor performance of the crop following bad weather a couple of years ago had impacted on their sales.
For a fraught few months, Bramley had struggled to supply enough fruit to supermarkets out of season. This prompted consumers to start relying on alternatives. I was genuinely shocked one difficult growing season could make such a difference to consumer behaviour. Keeping this famous variety of apple on our shelves was in jeopardy.
Thankfully after better growing seasons, sales are recovering. The people behind Bramley apples have been working hard to encourage home cooks to rediscover this stalwart British fruit. In addition, with a rapidly changing home population, it can no longer be taken for granted that everyone has grown up with traditional apple pie and apple crumble. These are traditional British desserts in which Bramley has long being the first choice to give excellent flavour and texture after cooking. Like wise, introducing Bramley apples to newer communities in the UK gives them opportunities to incorporate them into international dishes and reinvent how all of us use Bramley apples in cooking.
Having grown up with Bramley apples as the ultimate cooking apple it was interesting to try some alternative uses for serving Bramley apples in savoury as well as sweet dishes – you may remember my toad in the hole with Bramleys and Bratwurst published during Bramley Apple week back in February this year.
Serving Beetroot Salsa with Bramley apples
This beetroot salsa with Bramley apples is suitably tart and makes a great foil for salty or spicy tortilla chips. If you are serving drinks in the garden for social events this summer I urge you to try it out as a refreshing alternative to tomato dips. You can make this beetroot salsa 24 hours in advance and if sealed in an airtight container in the fridge it should keep for a couple of days. You could also use the beetroot salsa as part of a salad pot in packed lunches or picnics. It could also be used as an alternative to coleslaw in sandwiches, served alongside cold meats or cous cous or for jacket potato topping. Freezing is not recommended. Do you know any unusual ways to use cooking apples?
- 1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ½ 340g jar sliced beetroot in vinegar, drained and cut into small cubes
- 4 red tomatoes, finely chopped
- ½ red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 clove fresh garlic, finely minced
- 2tbsp caster sugar
- 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Black pepper
- Toss the apple in the lemon juice to prevent it browning.
- Place the beetroot, apple, tomatoes, red onion, garlic, caster sugar and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.
- Use salad forks or wooden spoons to combine the ingredients together.
- Season with black pepper and serve with tortilla chips.
Amongst my other party snack recipes you might like these chorizo canapes:
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Beetroot samples originally provided by Baxter’s. Apples provided by Bramley. Beetroot salsa recipe reproduced with permission.
This looks delicious just in time for summer! Looks tasty and marvelous!
Thanks – root veg are normally associated with winter but this definitely works for summer.
Looks delicious, i’ve never had beetroot dip before, looks lovely x
Beetroot has lots of dipping potential – other ideas include hummus or yogurt beetroot dips 🙂
Lovely recipe Sarah, and a step away from the ubiquitous apple crumble or pie. One to bookmark
Thank you – I do still like a ubiquitous apple crumble though 🙂
What an interesting way to use beetroot! Fab idea. I don’t think I’ve ever had it in a salsa before…
Apple and beetroot , this sounds like a nice combination, I ma sure the color must have been vibrant too.
Really like the use of tart Bramley apples in this salad. Beetroot itself is quite sweet and dessert apples could be a bit of an overkill. Looks delicious and I shall try and remember it if ever my beetroot grow this year.
My beetroot didn’t grow last year – I thought it was just me! There was loads of growth above ground and then we pulled them out and tiny beetroot the size of sweetcorn kernels on the end. We were gutted!!
This is stunning! Bet it tastes lovely, especially with the Bramley apples – really inventive 🙂