My
Grandmothers, both of them, made the best pickled beets. The whole ritual of going down into the musty
basement and over to the shelves of canned food, selecting just the right jar(s)
for supper, cracking the seal once back up in the kitchen and spilling the
contents into a waiting dish or pan. It brings back so many sweet memories of
summer-time at their elbows, watching and learning. Helping them prepare the fruits and
vegetables for canning may take some effort and time to prepare, but the results
are delicious. Pickled Beets in
particular are my favorite and a welcome tart-sweet counterpoint to any
meal. My recipe adds a little southern spice
to their mid-west wholesomeness.
Ingredients
25 lbs of
medium Red Beet (one box), trim root tip and tops.
6 large
Yellow Onion, sliced thin
6 cups
Apple Cider Vinegar
3 cups
Water
24
packets of Stevia (or other Sugar substitute) (or more to taste)
12 – 2 ½ “
Cinnamon Stick
12 medium
Bay Leaf (combine 2 small to equal 1
medium)
48 whole
Cloves
6
teaspoon Orange Peel
12 Jalapeno
Peppers, quarter lengthwise, remove seeds
12
Cayenne Peppers, whole (optional)
Directions
The Beets
Boil
Red Beets like you would potatoes. They are
“done” when a fork pierces the flesh easily.
Dump in sink to cool. Put on
rubber or latex glove unless you want red skin. When the Beets are cool enough
to handle, peel the Beets. This is
easily done. When cooked and still a
little warm, the skin of the beet will literally rub off. Trim any rough spots left. Dice or slice beets into large-ish pieces. For ease in the next step, put all prepared
beets in large container before assembly in next step.
The Juice
Mix Apple
Cider Vinegar and Water into large pitcher.
You can do this in smaller batches if your pitcher wont hold the 9
cups. Just mix in 2 parts Vinegar 1 part
Water ratio.
Per quart Jar
See Note below
about Canning
Add 2
packets of Stevia, 1 Cinnamon Stick, 1 Bay Leaf, 2 whole Cloves, ½ teaspoon
Orange Peel, 1 quartered Jalapeno Pepper, 1 Cayenne Peppers. Add ½ - ¾ cup Juice (Vinegar/Water) to the
Jar and swish around until it’s mixed. Imagine enough sliced Onion to equal ½ of the
original Onion, this is the amount per Quart Jar. Alternately add Beets and Onion, gently
pressing and packing them into the jar until they reach the “bottom of the neck
of the jar.” Fill jar with Juice, to
cover the beets. Add the Juice SLOWLY, jiggling
and shaking the jar to encourage any trapped air bubble to rise to the top. Put on your lid and screw the ring on very
tightly.
Process the Jars
Quart
Jars should process in boiling water for 35 minutes. See Note below. Remove and let cool completely. Label jars with contents and date.
Serving
Place Jar
in refrigerator, chilling completely before serving.
Abstinent Measuring
1 cup Beets
= 1 vegetable
Note
1.
This recipes aims at 12 quarts of pickled
beets.
If you want few quarts, prepare
the quantity of beet desired, then follow the “per quart jar” directions for
spices. Process quart jar for 35 minutes. If you want pint jars, half the “per quart
jar” directions. Process pints jars in
boiling water for 30 minutes.
2.
Canning is becoming a lost art. Please spend a few minutes on the internet
and look up general canning advice, tools and processing times.
a.
Generally you want very very clean jars and
lids. One trick is to run them thru
the dish washer just before use.
b.
You want the water boiling in the huge, multi
gallon processing pan before you add the filled jars. And then you don’t start the “processing time”
until the water starts to boil again.
Processing time for pints is 30 minutes and for quarts is 35
minutes. Don’t cut the time short. Remember
that you are sterilizing and killing microbes and you are using heat to do
it.
