If your beets are sizing up, or you can get a big batch of them at a farmers market, how about making some tasty pickles? This is my mother’s beet pickle recipe, simple and yet delicious.
And of course, since it came from her and it is food I loved as a child, it always takes me back to my North Dakota farm roots.
I don’t know what variety beets she grew, but for pickles I like to grow Detroit Dark Red or Early Wonder Tall Top for the rich burgundy color.
Ingredients
- 5-1/3 cups cooked beets (about 6 large)
- 1 cup water
- 1-1/2 cups vinegar
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon whole cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon, broken
- ½ teaspoon whole allspice
Directions
Remove beet tops, leaving 1 inch of top. Boil the beets in lightly salted water. When tender enough for a knife to pass through them, drain. Cool the beets in icy water, slipping the skin off them while they’re still hot. When cool, cut into 1-inch chunks.
Simmer the water, vinegar, sugar and spices for 15 minutes.
Pack the beets into jars and cover with liquid to within 1/2 inch of the jar top. Process for 30 minutes in a hot water bath.
Makes 3 pints.
p.s. For details on growing successive plantings of root crops, including beets, for fall and winter, see my column in the July-August, 2016 issue of Edible Seattle.