We've had a cooler than normal summer here. This means that summer crops, such as Swiss chard, are slow in growing, and the tomatoes are coming along but the baskets are not overflowing... yet. On the other hand, a slower than normal summer means that cooler weather crops, like lettuce, are slow to bolt, and the beets are huge and plentiful.
Both Harvest and I are fond of fresh beets, and it is one of the vegetables that cans well without changing its flavor too much. A gentleman in our town grows a small truck garden, and he put up a produce stand last year toward the end of the season. We've been waiting for him to put out his goodies, and they started to appear on the stand a couple of weeks ago and included these "small" beets, which are actually the size of large softballs, as well as "large" beets which are about the size of a teapot.
Even at softball size, the beets are tender, sweet, and delicious, so I decided to make some pickled beets to add some color to our winter meals. I used my stainless steel stockpot instead of my usual enormous canning kettle, and it seemed to be much easier and quicker to make smaller batches of pickles, with less hefting of heavy pots of boiling water, than my usual marathon output of dozens of jars of whatever I'm canning. My stock pot can hold 5 pints at a time, which is a reasonable amount to make at one go, unless you enjoy production canning or have a large family to provide for.
The following recipe is adapted from the Farm Journal's Freezing and Canning Cookbook. I used 13 of these softball-sized beets and got 11 pints in total. The original recipe makes about 4 pints, and I canned the beets in two batches, with one slightly larger than the other, so I added more ingredients to the larger batch accordingly to make sure there was enough of the spiced canning liquid to fill the jars properly. The process was remarkably quick and easy and minimally messy.
You can cook the beets the day before, refrigerate them overnight, and then make the pickles the following day. This cuts down on the mess and the stress of "must do it today."
The pickles can be eaten right away, but I will resist temptation for a couple of weeks, if I can, to allow the flavors to meld.
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| Assembling the ingredients and jars |
Pickled Beets
6 softball-sized beets or 24 small beets (the kind you usually find at the store)
Remove the stems and root ends of the beets and wash them well. Place them in a large pot of water, enough to cover them, and bring it to a boil. Simmer the beets until tender enough to be pierced with a fork but still firm and not mushy (about an hour or two, depending on the size of the beets). Remove the beets from their cooking water and plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking process. When the beets are cool, slip the skins off. You may refrigerate them at this point or continue with the recipe.
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| Cutting the onion |
3 medium onions, peeled and cut into quarters
3 cups 5% strength cider vinegar
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. pickling salt
6 whole cloves
1 generous Tbsp pickling spice mix
1 stick cinnamon
Put the cinnamon, pickling spice mix, and cloves into a small cloth bag or a square of cheesecloth, and tie securely.
Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a large pot, stirring to blend, then add the spice bag. Bring the liquid to a boil while you cut up the beets.
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| The spice bag heating in the pickling liquid |
Cut the beets into large chunks, about an inch square. Add the cut up beets and quartered onions to the vinegar and spice mixture, bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to separate the onion into smaller pieces. Remove the spice bag.
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| Simmering the beets and onions |
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| Washed and sterilized jars ready to be filled. |
Using a slotted spoon and a canning funnel, fill the hot, sterilized jars with beets up to the bottom rim, then ladle the liquid over them to within 1/4" of the jar top. Wipe the rim of each jar, place the lid on top, and screw on the jar cap firmly but not too tight.
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| Processing the filled jars in the boiling water bath |
Process the jars in a boiling water bath - making sure the water covers the jars - for 30 minutes, then remove the jars and cool them on the counter. Once cool enough to handle check that the jars are sealed and wipe the jars, lids, and caps clean of any mineral deposits before labeling them with the contents and date. Store the jars of pickles in a cool, dark place to retain their color and flavor.
Enjoy!
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