Monday 5 October 2015

Just Beet It!


       Living in a rural community can have it's perks. There are farm stand as far as the eye can see all summer and into the fall and even though I'm not a huge veggie person, you can never scoff at fresh local produce.

There are many people in my family that love a jar of pickled beets, combine this with my love of preserving all things and there may be a jar at your doorstep in the near future.

Alas, if you do not have someone to quench your beet craving, I give to you my recipe for Bread and Butter Beets.

You'll need

BEETS! 10lbs of them
Pickling Spice (1 tsp per 500ml jar, 1tbsp per 1L jar)

Pickling Liquid
2L sugar
2L vinegar
2L water

Beets are a pretty tough root vegetable so you're going to need to boil to heck out of them. Start them off in a pot of cold water and boil until they are fork tender. About an hour.

Now this is when you're going to want to either wear gloves or just embrace the colour purple. Because this is the colour your hand will turn if you don't.

Cool the beets in cold water, cut off ends and peel with your fingers. Cut the beets into quarters or whatever size you would like and put them aside in a bowl until your jars are ready.



Grab another pot and add your pickling liquid ingredients to it, stir and bring to a boil.

While you're peeling and cutting, boil your jars, rings and lids in a large canner or pot for about 10 minutes making sure there's at least 1 inch of water covering them.

Once you're jars are sterilized add the pickling spice and pack in the beets. 

Carefully fill the hot jars with the hot pickling liquid within 1/4 inch of the tops of the jar.

Cover with your lids and screw bands tightly and place the jars back into your pot of boiling water. 

Boil for 10 minutes, remove the jars from the pot and place the jars aside. Somewhere they can sit undisturbed for around 12 hours. 

Listen for the gratifying 'POP' of your jars sealing  and you're all set!

Let the jars sit for at least a week so the beets can take in all the flavor from the spices, then enjoy them yourself of gift them to friends or family. 
 

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