About this Recipe

Beet recipes were simply a staple in my Grandmother’s Kitchen growing up when we would go and visit. It was likely because she was an avid gardener and so always had a lovely crop of beets to make yummy things with. One of the most common beet recipes she made for us was her famous Borsht recipe, which has now been passed on to all of her children. Each one them makes a delicious version of her original recipe but always say how it is not quite as good as Grandmas Borscht. I swear that their versions are just as delicious at my Grandmother's but it is interesting how we hold these memories of these special meals from our loved ones that nothing could match. Another great beet recipe (which is our recipe here below) is for Grandma’s sweet beet pickle recipe.

Grandmother's Tips for Beet Pickles:

1. You MUST sterilize your jars before any kind of canning recipe. Sterilizing from start to finish for a batch this size will take about 30-40-minutes so in fact we recommend Grandmother's Kitchen helpful post on How to Sterilize Canning Jars. Other methods of sterilizing besides boiling each jar are using the hot cycle in dishwasher or you can do them in the oven at 225 degrees F, placing the jars and lids onto cookie sheet and leaving them in oven 20 minutes. NEVER put a COLD jar into boiling water as it could crack and break. Rather, be sure it has been warmed a little in a sink of warm water.

2. Beets DEFINITELY stain things. So you can use plastic gloves for handling them so you do not stain your hands making this beet recipe.

3. If your cutting board gets stained, you can use a fresh lemon wedge to gentle rub over it and rub it out. Side note - lemon wedges also take off stains from juicing carrots ... or henna (a temporary skin tattoo) ... which I personally learned from an embarrassing henna experience back in 2017.

4. Since beets grow directly in the soil, it’s a nice to give them a little scrub with water and vinegar or else a natural produce cleaner - (*We use Young Living Thieves Cleaner for a : natural fruit and veggie cleaner

5. This beet pickle recipe is quite simple and makes a crunchy and sweet beet pickle that is delicious served with a perogie recipe, a basic fried egg recipe, and in my opinion with any sauerkraut recipe, to name a few.

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Ingredients

(Print)

Makes: 6 Pints

5 lbs fresh beets (8 cups chopped) 2 cups water

Brine:

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups pickling vinegar

1 Tablespoon pickling spice

cheesecloth

kitchen twine

tongs

Directions

1. Sterilize the canning jars and lids. Learn: How to Sterilize Canning Jars

2. Wash the beets.

3. Place the whole beets into a large pot. Bring to a boil and cook until soft when speared with knife. Depending on the size of the beets it can take from 30-45 minutes for them to cook.

4. Pour the water out and dump the beets into the sink. Let them sit until cool enough to handle them.

5. Peel the skins off, they slide off very easily when cooked . Cut off both ends of the beets.

6. Slice or chop the beets to the desired shapes. You can do rounds or cubes.

7. Measure out 8 cups worth of cut beets.

8. Cut the cheesecloth into about an 8 inch square. Put the tablespoon of pickling spices at the center of the cheesecloth, pull up the sides and tie together at the top with your twine to form a spice ball.

9. You can also cut a tie strip from the cheesecloth if you do not have white butcher twine.

10. Dump the 8 cups of prepared chopped beets into a deep pot. Add the brine makings. If you have multiple batches of beets do the recipe one batch at a time.

11. Bring the beets and brine to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.

12. Have ready a ladle and scoop the prepared hot beets into the sterilized canning jars. Be sure the jars are not cold.

13. You can warm the jars up by putting hot water in the bottom of the sink and placing the empty jars upright in the water.

Tip: If you put a bowl under the canning jar that you are scooping the beets into, it will catch the drips that happen. Wipe the top of the jar with a paper towel to ensure there is no juice on the rim.

14. Put the seal and lid onto the jar and screw to tighten.

15. Leave to cool. You will hear a popping sound and the lid will indent when the jar has sealed.

16. If for some reason it does not seal, refrigerate that jar until using rather than storing in a cupboard.

ENJOY!

Return to this Beet Pickles recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

This beet pickles recipe is a healthy food recipe that will help stock your pantry. Canning your vegetables is a rewarding way always to have healthy food in your cupboards, and this beet pickles recipe makes crunchy and sweet beet pickles that are perfect served with perogies, basic fried egg recipes, hard boiled eggs and also on their own. If canning recipes have intimated you in the past, this beet pickles healthy food recipe is just the place to start.

Pickled beets are a healthy food recipe that adds color, texture and flavor to salad recipes or food platters. Pickled beets are also delicious layers with some fresh mozzarella with a drizzle of olive oil. Of course one of the best ways to enjoy pickled beets is when you eat them straight from the jar. This healthy food recipe is a great way to enjoy the summer harvest of beets all year long.

Before doing any canning or preserving you want to make sure and thoroughly read through the instructions, have all of your ingredients and all of your canning jars and pickling jars. Choosing the pickling jars is part of the fun, and you will want to think ahead at how you will be using this healthy food recipe. Maybe you will be giving some preserves away as gifts, or just keeping them for yourself; you will want to think about the size of the canning jars and pickling jars accordingly. Another thing you will have to think about is the type of pickling vinegar you will use.

For your canning and preserving recipe, you will have more than one option of vinegar to include cider vinegar, white vinegar and more. The type of vinegar you use will affect the overall taste of your pickling recipes, and you might find that a cider vinegar gives a bit of a fruit flavor that is a bit overwhelming and you might prefer to use something a little cleaner. Probably your best bet is to try a plain white pickling vinegar as it is one of the most popular choices. This will allow for the flavors of the other ingredients to shine, instead of overpowering them, whether it is the garlic, onion, pickling spices, dill, coriander, pepper or something a bit more exotic. In the end, it is about personal preference and what you like. You can try experimenting, or maybe you've tried a healthy food recipe from one of your friends, and you want to try that.

Besides your canning jars, pickling jars and vinegar the pickling spice is one of the most important parts about making pickles. Pickling spice is a spice blend that stands up well to the pickling process and gives its complex flavor to preserved vegetables and fruits. Pickling spice usually includes whole or crumbled spices rather than ground up spices. The mixture is often tied up in some cheesecloth, added during cooking, and then later removed.

Pickling spices can vary depending on who makes them, but common ingredients include bay leaves, mustard seeds, and peppercorns. Other spices that are often included are allspice berries, cardamom seeds, celery seeds, dried chilli peppers, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, dill seeds, fennel seeds, dried ginger, juniper berries, whole cloves and star anise. You can also make your pickling spice, but it is usually easiest to purchase it premade. Pickling spice can also be used in stew, meat and vegetable dishes.