Do you have a lot of beets in your garden or do you just love pickled beets? Try canning them. It’s super easy and you’ll have delicious pickled beets in the winter. I love almost all vegetables, and although I like beets, I could take them or leave them. But … pickled beets that is entirely another story! I could eat them by the jar full. I loved my mother’s pickled beets and it’s been years since I’ve tasted devoured them. I don’t know why I never tried canning beets myself, but I am so glad I finally did. I’ll have to save a jar for my mother …although, they won’t be quite as good as hers!
I’ve spoken before of my Dad having a huge garden and now that I have my own small garden, I appreciate so much more all the work my Dad put into the garden and all the work my mother did preparing, canning, and cooking the vegetables. Considering the size of their garden I would find that quite overwhelming! Isn’t it awesome the things our parents pass on to us, perhaps, without even realizing they are doing so and what a gift it is!
My Mother’s Pickled Beets
- 3-4 pints beets
- 1-1/2 cups white vinegar
- 1 pint of water
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 2 Cups of sugar
Prepare your beets by trimming all but 2 inches of the stem and leaving the root on and cover with water. Boil approximately 40 minutes or until tender. Cool, slip off skins and cut into chunks or slices.
Prepare canner, jars and lids (get easy to follow instructions here).
Combine vinegar, water, salt and sugar and bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes.
Add beets to mixture and return to a boil, simmer 5 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, ladle beets into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover beets, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more pickling liquid. Wipe rim with a clean damp cloth. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight – do not overtighten.
Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 30 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.
Enjoy … and pass on the tradition!
After you’re done why not make some pretty labels? I wasn’t loving the canning labels I saw to buy, so I created my own! I designed the labels in Publisher and used Avery mailing labels – 6 per sheet. Get creative and show off your hard work!
Pasta Princess and More 