Pickled Beets

[Sniper-T]

It looks like my mom's awesome recipe has been lost forever
I canned a couple jars a week ago using an internet recipe, and the next batch I am going to try my Brother's ex-wife's Grandmother's recipe...

Gail's Mom's Beets:
1. Cook beets with skins on. dip in cold water and peel (2 qt's beets)

2. Mix together the following and boil for 5 min.
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 cups vinegar
1 tbs cinnamen
1tsp allspice
pinch cloves
1 lemon, sliced (if desired)

3. Put beets in sterilized jars. Cover twith boiling syrup and seal tightly.

Makes about 2 quarts.


Anyone have a tried and true recipe?

[4suchatimeasthis]

My mom has an absolutely fantastic one. Her dill pickles and pickled beets are legendary, lol. I need to get it from her, when I do I will post it.

[bacpacker]

We don't have anything other than whats in the Ball canning book. I look forward to getting these because we want to try growing and preserving beets.

I picked up a large pack of seed today. Gotta get them planted as soon as it dry's up a little.

[4suchatimeasthis]

Okay, I have the info . In typical "Mom" fashion, she didn't have an exact amount that this recipe was for, but she said that it's probably enough for 7 quart jars, since that's how many jars fit in her pressure cooker, so that's the size of her batches (for quart jars) of pretty much everything. Except, that you DON'T pressure cook beets. Well, you could....if you want mush....

Anywho, enough brine to fill 7 quart jars

4 cups of sugar
4 cups of WHITE vinegar, not apple cider (she made a big deal of this)
2 3" long cinnamon sticks (she suggests buying them from the craft section, not the grocery section)
2 teaspoons of whole cloves

Boil this mix (yup, even the cinnamon sticks) till the sugar is completely dissolved, then pour over the jars, which should be full of quartered (if they are tennis ball sized) or halved (golf ball sized) beets. Only fill to the bend in the neck, so, about an inch or so from the top. Put on the lids and hot water bath only! (Bring to a boil to seal the lids, then pull em out and let them cool on a towel on the counter).

Now, as far as the beets themselves go, dear ole Mom shocked me. Since my sisters and I grew up and moved away, she no longer grows her own. She confessed that in recent years she orders a #10 can of plain cooked beets from my aunt (runs a restaurant), and uses those. Cuts em up, pops em in the jars, pours over the brine, hot water bathes, and is done. Cheating. But it works.

So she doesn't bother with boiling the beets herself anymore, but if you do that, leave 1" of stem on them, or they bleed out their color, and boil till just barely softened, otherwise they get too mushy. Then run them under cold water to chill them, which makes popping the skins off a lot easier, and then cut them up and stick 'em in the jars.

They are delicious!