Instructions

1. Choose beetroot of much the same size and scrub them rather than peel them. The skin holds colour and comes away by itself once a round has dried.
2. Wear gloves or accept the consequences. Beetroot juice stains hands and boards for days, and the oil in this recipe helps it travel.
3. Trim the tops and the root tail, then slice to 6 mm on a mandolin if you have one. Beetroot is dense, and a hand-cut round that varies by a hair will vary by an hour in the machine.
4. Chop the rosemary far finer than seems necessary before it meets the oil. Dried needles stay sharp in the mouth however long they sit on a slice of beetroot.
5. Toss the rounds with the oil, rosemary, salt and pepper using your hands, getting between every slice. Poured over the top, oil coats the ones on the surface and leaves the rest bare.
6. Spread the rounds out with no overlap. Two slices stuck together dry as one thick slice and come out flexible in the middle.
7. Dehydrate at 63 °C for 11 hours. They shrink dramatically and the edges go almost black — that is sugar concentrating, not scorching.
8. A finished round snaps when bent, with no leathery centre. Test one that has been off the tray for a minute, because the oil keeps them feeling soft while they are warm.
9. Keep them in an airtight container for up to a month. It is the oil that sets that limit; plain dried beetroot lasts far longer, but it does not taste like this.