Let’s can pickled beets!
If there was one thing I love to can and could eat every single day, it would be pickled beets. I’ve loved them as long as I can remember. I was weird enough as a kid, too, that my Papa would make me beet pickled eggs for my birthday. They were the BEST!! He’s in heaven now, so I’m here carrying on his tradition and loving pickled beets & beet pickled eggs.
I’ve worked on tweaking this recipe to perfect to my taste and I’ve got it down now. I messed with using ground spices instead of whole because I never have cinnamon sticks or whole cloves on hand when I need them. I will add both measures in the recipe for you. Using the whole spices allows you to strain the spices out, but I kinda like the ground ones because the pickled beets taste spicier.
I normally make a big batch of the pickling liquid and can the excess so I can small batch can beets as I pull them out of the garden, find them on sale, or buy them from a local produce stand. I recent found some discounted beets on Misfits Market I had sent to me that were humongous and delish that I pickled up using pickling liquid I had made this past spring. It was perfect!
So, to cut to the chase… First and foremost, you need to par cook your beets and peel them. My favorite way is to cut the greens off, wash the beets realllllly good, and toss them in my instant pot pressure cooker for about 20 minutes, depending on how big they are. 20 minutes does some medium sized beets. Bigger, like a tennis ball or baseball, will need 25-30 minutes. Let it naturally depressurize and cool and the skins slip right off. Slice and keep warm! You can also simmer them in a stock pot on your stovetop but I am a serial cooker over-er and those beets boil over and burn to my oven top every time just because I blinked.
Ingredients:
12 lbs beets
5 1/3 cups white vinegar
4 cups sugar
4 cups water
2 Tbs ground cinnamon (or 2-3 cinnamon sticks)
1 1/2 Tbs salt
1 tsp ground cloves (or 1 Tbs whole cloves)
Instructions
Wash your beets and blanch using your method of choice. Remove skins and slice, keep warm.
Add remaining ingredients to a stock pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar.
Allow to boil 15-20 minutes covered if using whole spices. If using ground, you can skip this step entirely.
Add warm beets to prepared pint jars and pour over hot liquid. Strain out whole spices if desired.
Canning
Wipe rims and add lids and bands and process in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes, adjusting for altitude as needed.
Leftover pickling liquid can be refrigerated or canned along with the beets.
Happy canning!
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