Pickled Beets

PICKLED BEETS! YUM!
I realize it's a little late in the season to be posting this, all I can say is that I'm very behind on this blog. :)
Although we did have a late crop of beets because I planted a second time after we harvested the first row. Here's a doosie of a beet! I could just barely get both my hands around it from top to tip.

I use the recipe from my Ball Blue Book.

Pickled Beets
3 quarts cooked, peeled beets

2 C. sugar

2 sticks cinnamon

1 T. whole allspice

1 1/2 t. salt

3 1/2 C. vinegar

1 1/2 C. water

Combine all ingredients, except beets in a large pot. Simmer 15 minutes. Pack beets into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. (cut larger beets into quarters, or you can slice them)
Remove cinnamon. Bring pickling liquid to a boil. Pour hot liquid over beets, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles with a rubber spatula. Adjust caps. Process pints & quarts 30 minutes in boiling water bath. Yield: about 6 pints.

That's the exact recipe. But I usually have more than 3 quarts of beets, so I 'play' with the recipe a bit. I usually double this recipe, plus add about 4 more cups of water. This recipe above is a bit too vinegary for us. I add the 4 cups of water to cut down on that a bit, & to also give me more liquid to use, as I tend to run out of it & need to make more. I also usually add cloves & sometimes I'll add pickling spice to a cheesecloth bag, or just dump it in the pot & then run the liquid through a strainer before using. And this year I also added corriander, since I have a ton of that from the herb garden. :)

This last batch I canned 8 quarts & 1 pint.
I pressure can my beets instead of a boiling water bath.
I lost a little of the liquid out of some jars, but as long as they are sealed, they're fine.

Here's a bowl that I served with supper one evening.
Just give me a fork & some salt & I'm good to go.