However tardy our tomatoes may be this mild summer, there's no shortage of beets in Minnesota's home gardens. This surplus, along with the reasonable temperatures, made yesterday an ideal day for canning beet pickles.
Pickled beets are a noted Midwestern favorite, an immigrant good that is a favorite from Scandinavian countries. It's no surprise that with our Norwegian and Danish heritages, Michael and I are pickled beet fanatics.
Most beet pickles include more sugar than the recipe Michael and I used to can baby beet pickles at his weekend home in Kandiyohi County, but he thought the more savor concoction would incorporate the root vegetable's natural sweetness.
1 pound beets
1 white onion, sliced
1 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar (or quantity to taste)
1 tablespoon cardamom
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
Follow standard instructions to prepare two quart jars or four wide-mouth pint jars, lids and screw bands for canning (we used wide mouth pints). You'll also need a boiling water canner and a jar lifter.
1. Trim off the leaves and tap roots of the beets, leaving 1/2 inche of tap root and leaf stalk to prevent too much "bleed out." (Beet leaves work well in any Swiss chard recipe).
2. Place your beets in a large saucepan, adding enough water to cover them two inches. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to medium low. Simmer the beets for 10-15 minutes.
3. When the beets are tender but still firm, drain, reserving two cups of the liquid for the pickling brine.
4. Cool the beets in cold water.
5. While you're waiting for the beets to cool, combine the two cups of reserved beet cooking water, vinegar, sugar, cardamom, cloves, allspice and salt in a saucepan and warm using medium heat. Stirred until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low.
6. When the beets are cool enough to handle--and while the pickling brine slip their skins off. This is done easily while the beet is in the cooling water. Trim off the remaining stem, tap root, and any skin or blemishes that remain. Quarter any baby beets which are extra large.
7. Place a slice of onion in each jar, then pack the beets in. We put the larger baby beets in the bottom of the jars (wide-mouth jars allow home canners to pack in the whole baby beet).
8. Pour enough of the pickling brine in each jar to cover the beets totally, leaving 1/4 inch at the top of each jar.
9. Using a hot, damp towel, wipe the rim of the jars clean. Seal each jar with a lid and screw band.
10. Using the jar lifter, place the jars in the hot water canner for 15 minutes.
11. Using the lifter, remove the jars and place them on a cooling rack or a thick towel spread on a sturdy table or counter.
12. After the jars cool, check for a good seal. (You'll hear the soft popping sound as the jars cool and a seal is made). Refrigerator any jars which didn't take a seal.
13. The pickles should be ready in a week of so, though most people wait a bit longer. Consume the beets within three months.
Use the pickled beets as a garnish, a side dish, or as an ingredient in salads.
Photo: Beets, from the National Garden Bureau.
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