Despite the awful drought, we have a good crop of beets. Saturday I decided it was time to can a batch of pickled beets. I already have a list of those folks who treasure them so much they want them for Christmas.
These are the preparatory steps:
1. Wash 7 pounds of beets.
2. Leave about 1" of stem and root on the beet to prevent bleeding.
3. Place them in a pot and cover with water.
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| Leave some root and tops to prevent bleeding. |
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| Slip the skins off and remove the stems and root. |
4. Bring to a boil and simmer until done (about 25 min). A simple prick of the fork will tell you if they are done. Don't over cook - they'll still be cooking in the canner.
5. Remove them from the cooking liquid.
6. As soon as you can handle them, slip off the skins cutting off the top and the root.
7. A simple prick of the fork will tell you if they are done.
8. Slice them into 1/4" slices.
This is where I had a "tada" moment.
Claudette to self - "Hmmm these slices look just like my hard boiled eggs when I put them in the egg-slicer...I wonder how that would work?" Well guess what...it worked!
Gadgets have to pass a few rules to make it into my kitchen. First they have to be very effective, doing whatever it is much faster and better than I can do it without them, I would have to use them more than once in a blue moon, AND they have to do more than one thing. Well that was almost a deal-breaker, but I bought the egg slicer anyway because I love my aunt and she convinced me it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
As of Saturday I can at least say it passes my more-than-one-use rule and for some of you who aren't comfortable with sharp knives...we now have a solution.
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| The egg/beet slicer produced perfect slices. |
I didn't use cinnamon sticks in this batch because I forgot them. :-) Yes it happens to all of us. As a matter of fact I forgot about the bag of spices, which got canned into one of the jars. There will be days like that. My husband encourages me at times like that saying, "that doesn't happen to people who don't do anything." They tasted good despite my mistake.
Brine for Beets
6 cups vinegar
3 cups sugar
3 cups water
2 1/4 teaspoon pickling or canning salt
36 peppercorns
18 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
3 medium-sized bay leaves
6 medium onions, sliced
Directions
Place first four ingredients in a pot large enough to hold the brine, the beets and the onions. Lay the peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves in a cheesecloth bag. Gather up the edges and tie it shut, then drop it in the liquid. You can also place them in a tea ball if you break the cinnamon and bay leaves into smaller pieces. Add them to the pot and bring everything to a boil.
Add beets and onions and simmer no more than 5 minutes. REMOVE THE SPICE SACK. Fill the canning jars as instructed at the National Center for Home Food Preservation web site.
About the Ingredients:
Vinegar: If you've read anything else on my blog you already know how I feel about vinegar. Choose quality ingredients.
Sugar: Yes, that's a lot of sugar, but if you are not a diabetic and if you don't eat half a jar and drink the liquid you should be okay. NOTE: Some artificial sweeteners are questionable sugar substitutes when canning because they become unstable in high heat. Concerns range from safety to taste.
Salt: The average table salt has additives to make it "pour when it rains." Pickling or canning salt is additive free. It does make a difference. The brine usually becomes cloudy and unattractive looking.
Spices: 36 peppercorns is a lot to count. It's loosely a half teaspoon. 18 cloves is worth the time to count because it's hard to measure accurately. If you're desperate for a quick fix, figure a very heaped full half teaspoon.
Onions: The original recipe calls for slicing the onions very thinly. I find that with medium to large onions, that makes the onion rings a pain to deal with when filling the jars. Cutting the onion in half first and then slicing it thinly works better for me.
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| The finished product. |
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