On My Stove today

 Home Made Pickled Beets...YUM!

One of the things I love about the fall season is CHEAP vegetables...like $1.44 ten pound bag of beets from No Frills in Huntsville!!!  That alone is a good reason to celebrate Autumn.    I love pickled beets as much as the next person...but this is only the second time I have tried making them on my own.

Last year, our neighbor got me interested because the day we stopped by their place to see if we could buy some maple syrup from them she was cooking beets.  I had never done any kind of canning before, so naturally it built up my curiosity.  She let me take pictures of the recipe from her big cook book, but I've since taken a kazillion photos and have no idea where they are in my computer.  Anyway Ingrid told me that she was going to get herself a new canner, and she ended up giving me her old one...so now I have two, a large one and a medium one.

So this is the recipe I found on the internet this year, and used...

PICKLED BEETS

• 35 -40 small beets unpeeled
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves

Directions

1. In a large pot cook the unpeeled beets until fork-tender (do not overcook) cool and then remove the skins.
2. Slice into about 1/4-inch thick or cut into cubes.
3. Pack snuggly into the canning jars (be careful not to bruise).
4. In a large saucepan combine the sugar, water, vinegar, ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon and whole cloves; bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes (no sugar granules should remain).
5. Quickly pour over the beets in the jars, leaving 3/4-inch head space (the liquid should go no further than the shoulder of the jar!).
6. Process in a boiling water bath for 12 minutes.
7. Cool on a rack. 

I ended up with 10 medium sized mason jars of pickled beets...however I did have to add a bit more water, a bit more sugar and a bit more vinegar to the liquid part of this recipe so that I could finish the last four jars.  I have marked them in the order I canned them in the sealer...1 of 6, 2 of 6, 3 of 6 etc and then the last four 1 of 4, 2 of 4, etc so that I know which ones were which.  I can't wait to try them....YUM

10 Jars of home made pickled beets...YUM

October 25, 2015

Abby and I finally got to try some of these beets today and they are so delish!  I will be using the same recipe to make some pickled cucumbers.   YUM