In a Pickle? Beet the Odds...

, , No comments
I'm currently unemployed (although I am working a bit of freelance where and when I can!) and since money's a bit tight and now that it's fall, I'm trying to both take advantage of the bountiful harvest and improve my canning skills. Apart from the great deals at the farmer markets I'm also taking advantage of the "quick sale" deals at my local "fruiterie". So when I saw a bunch of big packets of yellow beets for 99¢ I thought: Why not try my hand at pickling some beets?

However, as I was going through this recipe I released that these quick sale deals don't always work out perfectly... I've usually had great success finding ingredients for jams (see my plum-raspberry jam) this time the beets were a bit hit and miss, and I had to discard some, but I still had enough for 3 jars and I quickly made some pickled carrots with the leftover brine! YUM.



Pickled Beets

• 2.5-3 lbs small-medium beets

brine:
• 1 3/4 cups vinegar (min 5% acidic)  
   - I used 1 1/4 organic cider vinegar and 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 cups filtered water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt

spice mix:
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 10 cloves
• 1/2 tsp juniper berries
• 1/2 tsp dill seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1-2 small pieces cinnamon stick

Remove greens from beets leaving roots and stems and give them a good quick scrub with a brush but do not peel them (they'll bleed out their colour in the boiling water if you do). Put beets in pot of water, add a splash of vinegar, bring to boil and simmer on medium 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain and pop beets into a bath of cold water for 5-10 minutes. Once they've cooled sufficiently to handle them they should peel really easily. Thicker skins should peel off by hand or thin skins can be easily removed with a carrot peeler. Once all skin and rough spots have been removed rinse and cut into wedges. I cut medium ones into six pieces and smaller ones in four.

Pack them into sterilized jars leaving about a good half an inch head space.

Put all the brine ingredients into a pot with the spices and bring the pickling brine to a boil and then simmer gently (med-low) while covered, for about 15 minutes.


Using a jar funnel, pour brine (while straining out spices with a sieve) into the canning jars and fill to almost the top, leaving 1/4" head space. I let a few mustard and dill seed get in because I thought it looked nice. Wipe the edges of rim with clean paper towel, apply heated sealing disk pressing the centre and then screw the meal band on - fingertip tight.

Process in hot water bath for 30 minutes and let water cool 5-10 minutes before removing to a quiet place to cool undisturbed. Let cool overnight and check seals before storing in a cool dark place. Use within one year.

Makes about 5 x 500ml jars.


"First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top. 
The ones that make you pull the car over and go “Wow, I need this beet right NOW”. 
Those are the Money Beets." - Dwight Shrute "The Office"


No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )