I’ve been nursing my last pint of home canned pickled beets for a couple months. It’s commonplace for me to eat half a jar when I get a craving but I’ve shown incredible self-restraint in case I needed a half cup of tiny diced beets for a special homemade salad dressing recipe. How would that dressing taste without those tangy tidbits and slightly pink tinge color? Not very good so I’ve practiced safe pickled beet denial.
Pickled beets were my second attempt into the world of canning 35 years ago. I wanted to can them because mom and I loved them. It was soon after we moved to Michigan in 1987. My neighbor Diane asked me to help her can Bread & Butter pickles (they’re out of this world delicious) and it wasn’t long before I questioned if I could pickle a beet better than store bought ones? (which are quite bland).
No one on my side of the family canned but my MIL was a great canner when she was raising (the Hub’s and his sibs) so I asked her. (Little Johnny Wayne used to sneak down the basement when his mom was gone and eat a whole jar of her canned sweet cherries, then got rid of the evidence. Did he throw away the jars?) Sure Mag had canned pickled beets many times. She grabbed an envelope that was on the table and scribbled the recipe down from memory. I mentioned my pickled beet intentions to my SIL a couple hours later as she glanced at the recipe. “No this isn’t quite right,” she began. “Close but let me check the amounts and I’m sure there’s a missing ingredient.”
I was now armed with the right recipe but waiting to find some beets which Diane ordered for me at her ‘go to’ farm market. Beets are root vegetables which are harvested in late fall. I bought some jars and picked up my beets. They’re messy to work with, spewing a colorful shade of maroon over countertops, walls and hands, plus they don’t smell the best until they’re swimming in syrup. And it takes awhile to get them to that point. You have to boil them whole until they’re fork tender, drain, cool and ‘slip the skins.’ (I love that phrase), then dice or slice in the delicious, tangy syrup (almost makes your eyes water! Hubs always finds something to do in the garage when it pickled beet canning day, but I love the smell!) is heating up.
During my Parish Visiting days, pickled beets were one of the favorite foods I brought to folks who still lived in their own homes. Think this beet obsession might be age related. Not one of my kids or grands will eat them (when our kids were little and I asked them to pass the beets, they’d snap their fingers, clap and make weird noises in their mouth, succumbing to fits of giggles. Every. Single. Night) but most older folks relished getting a jar. Many wrote notes specifically thanking me for the beets. And the clever ways they used to repurpose the pickled syrup after every last diced nugget had been consumed. Most common was cooking hard boiled eggs, removing the shell and plunking the eggs in the leftover syrup. Waiting a couple weeks (for the eggs to get all pickly. The eggs turn into an incredible color). From that day forward whenever I made beets, I canned and saved the extra syrup and would bring folks a quart so they could pickle eggs. Such wonderful memories.
Since I’ve been going through beet withdrawal this summer I’ve been impatient for this year’s crop. Messaged the farm stand for their availability. Finally got a note my beets would be in only to have her tell me they didn’t get them and it would be another week. A couple days later I noticed their Facebook page advertising Northern Spys (my favorite pie apple). Waited to hear my beets were finally in so I hustled over to buy both.
Shannon was interested in making some pies together (her kitchen is huge and she has 3 ovens) so I made a quadruple batch of 10” double pie crusts, (ha, we ended up making more crusts) lugged a half bushel of Spys to her house. When we were a family of 5 and could snarf a pie after supper I always made a 9” pie. Now we’re down to 2, Shannon’s house is down to 3 and none of us needs a big pie. Or pie period but we love them. We each wanted one 9” for company but then made the rest into 6, 7 & 8” pans. Just big enough for a couple slices. The small (pot pie size) will go to Landon when we attend his basketball games this winter. (He’s the only one who runs off the calories during one practice)!
The pickled beets are in my canning cupboard and pies are in the freezer. I have a half bushel of Spys to can into applesauce this week but what we got accomplished since Friday feels good. Although I never could dance, I’ve still got the beet…
Storyteller from a One-Stoplight Town 
Yum! I confess to using canned beets and just letting them sit overnight in home-made raspberry vinegar, one can at a time, and have a couple every morning for breakfast. Yes, cold!
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Hahaha, I’ve heard of that semi-homemade way of pickling beets before! Sounds great and easy! And ice cold is the only way to eat a beet that’s been pickled! Thanks Joy…
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You can have my share of beets forever, amen. I’ve hated them since I was a baby. Had to can them when I was married so my husband could have pickled eggs. Still can’t stand them. However, when it comes to apples in crust, I’m pretty pious.
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You’re in the majority with the love/hate relationship with beets, pickled or plain. They’re not for everybody but for those of us who love them, we’re a loyal bunch! Don’t understand the whole pickled egg business but I only eat hard cooked eggs in salads and not pickled, but I sure had a lot of my elderly friends who thought pickled eggs were a special treat. It was not much work to make a couple extra batches of syrup when I was pickling beets. I agree, not many duos go together better than apples and pie crusts. Thanks Jane…
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Another great story, Denise. We too love pickled beets and will get at them next week. I plant my own- the cylindrical variety!!! LOVE slipping the skins!!!! Have a Son-filled canning day!!!
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Thanks Dee! Wish I loved digging in the dirt and growing fruits and veggies but I do not. I am grateful for farmer’s markets who produce what I need. Happy canning my friend. I’m canning applesauce tomorrow!
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YUMMY!! I bet homemade pickled beets are the best. I absolutely love beets (the only one in my family that does) but I’m just eating canned beets. I know I’m missing out. Maybe I’ll try your recipe since it sure sounds pretty easy, though messy. I’ve never canned anything before but it sounds like you put the hot stuff once done cooking into jars and seal. Thank you for sharing Neese!! 💞
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It’s not hard at all Diana (but kinda messy). Bread & Butter pickles and pickled beets are the only 2 things I can that don’t get a hot water bath or go in the pressure cooker. I would suggest buying 10 or 12 pounds of beets and doubling the ingredients for the syrup, making sure the sugar has dissolved and is simmering. When the beets are cooked, skins removed, diced or sliced and simmered in the syrup for 5 minutes, the remaining steps are clean jars that are sitting in very hot water (lids the same way). Add the beets and some syrup to hot jars then take a plastic knife around the inside edge of the jar to remove any air bubbles, wipe the rim with a clean, wet cloth, add the lid and tighten the ring snug. The jar will ‘pop’ within a couple hours and the seal is secure. You’ve canned some pickled beets-yay!! Easy, peasy. The difference in taste between store bought and home canned is significant. You’re gonna love your homemade ones. Good luck…
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Thank you for the this!! I’ll give it a try soon!!
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I love pickled beets and they are super healthy! I started drinking beer juice a few months ago and found that it is amazingly helpful for my COPD. I am finally making your baked oatmeal tonight! I can’t wait to try it. Since I had just made apple oatmeal the first time, I decided to try a steel cut oats carrot baked oatmeal the second time. My IBS did not like steel cut oats – AT ALL. I am finally ready to try rolled oats again. I am sure I am ready and cannot wait!
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Beet juice! 😳
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Haha, I knew what you meant. Have a great day Anne…
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Thank you, Neese! You as well. 💞
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Hahaha, beer juice! Dang spellcheck. I’m glad the beet juice is helping Anne. Sincerely hope you like the baked oatmeal and it agrees with your digestive system. With the fall cool down, I’m hungry for it too! Stay well my friend…
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It made our house smell AMAZING last night and it is delicious. The raisins would have put it totally over the top but I omitted since Dan isn’t a big fan. Next time I will add them for me. 😊. It is so easy to make as well!
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So glad you liked it Anne! I agree it’s better with raisins. I top it a bit of brown sugar and milk. Delicious on cold winter mornings…
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