Pickled Beets

Amongst friends, I'm kind of known for a few food specialties: Molasses sugar cookies, any kind of pie and pickled beets.  I've been reluctant to share the recipes for the cookies and the beets - the cookies because it's a recipe from my grandmother that was one of her favorites and the beets because they are good enough that even people who don't like beets have told me they like them.  I've decided to share the beet recipe (with all of the 35 of you that are reading this blog...)

Standard pickled beet recipes use spices like cinnamon, cloves and/or allspice to enhance (or some would say 'mask') the beet taste that some people say resembles dirt.  I love the earthy flavor of beets, but for some people it can be overpowering.   I picked up this recipe from an ex-roommate in San Francisco that uses umeboshi which is itself a pickled fruit  (usually called umeboshi plums, but they are actually related to apricots).  I've used both versions of umeboshi for pickling beets - the paste or whole plums  that you can get at most asian food markets, or the umeboshi vinegar  that you can find in most health food stores.  I'm not particularly fond of the cinnamon-y flavor of most pickled beets, but you can, if you want, add a stick of cinnamon and/or some whole allspice to one or several jars before you seal them up.  But in general, these pickled beets are more savory than sweet.

If you haven't had pickled beets before, you might wonder what you actually do with them.  I always tell people they can do the same things they would do with any pickle: put them on a sandwich, add them to a salad, eat them on their own.  My favorite way of eating them is with a little chunk of multigrain bread (or a simple water craker), some extra sharp cheddar (Canadian or English) and a few slices of pickled beets.

 

This recipe uses rice vinegar.  I only use unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar (which is clear), not seasoned or Chinese rice vinegar (which is dark colored).  Rice vinegar is only 4.2% acidity, which technically is not recommended for boiling water bath canning (recommended 5% acidity).  I do it anyway and I've never had a problem (I don't dilute the vinegar with water as many recipes that use regular vinegar suggest).  But if you aren't comfortable with this, make a smaller batch and just keep them in the refrigerator.  They will last for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Pickled Beets

1 dozen medium beets
1 1/2 cups unseasoned rice vinegar
1 small head garlic, minced (about 5-7 cloves)
1/2 c ume plum vinegar (or 1 tablespoon ume plum (mashed) and 1/2 c more rice vinegar)
2 t kosher salt
optional cinnamon sticks (1/2 for each half-pint jar) and whole allspice berries (can also use cloves)

Before you start cooking, wash 8 half pint jars and new lids.  Put the canning pot on to start heating. 

Wash beets, peel and cut into bite sized slices (some people cook whole beets then peel them, I've had issues with beets cooking evenly that way, so I peel and cut before I steam them).  Steam in a vegetable steamer or a pot with a steamer basket for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender but not mushy.  While the beets are cooking, in a glass bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients including the cinnamon and allspice.  Immediately after the beets are done cooking, add the hot beets to the vinegar mixture.  Stir well.  If you're going to can the beets, prepare jars for filling by sanitizing them in boiling water. 

Fill each jar with beets, leaving about 1/2 inch of headroom, then pour remaining vinegar solution evenly into each jar.  Add 1/2 cinnamon stick and 1 or 2 nutmeg berries to each jar (or add to some and not to others) if you are using spices.  Seal jars and process in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Makes 7 half pints

Comments

[Marc @ NoRecipes]

What a brilliant idea! This just makes total sense on a whole bunch of levels.

[gc pickering]

this recipe sounds great - i've pickled the beets and canned them in a hot water bath for 30 minutes. Are they safe to keep in the pantry? I've always done high acid fruits/vegetables like tomatoes, and never had a problem, but i understand beets are a different kettle of fish. Any thoughts? I love the idea of the rice vinegar instead of cidar - can't wait to taste them!

[Kim (Edible/Usable)]

Hi GC -
I do keep these beets in the pantry after water bath processing for 30 mins. Technically, rice vinegar is not 5% acidity that most home canning guidelines suggest as a minimum acidity for water bath processing. I think cider vinegar (or regular white or distilled vinegar) is 5% or more and it is safe to pickle beets and not refrigerate.

If you don't have one already, I would suggest getting a book about home canning. The "Ball Blue Book of Preserving" is very popular. I personally like "The Busy Person's Guide to Preserving Food." There are also a lot of websites that have detailed information, like http://www.canningacrossamerica.com that has a great resources page.

Thanks for reading the blog and good luck with the beets!

Kim

[Christephi]

This recipe looks good! And thanks for the tips on what to do with pickled beets. I'm getting a bunch from our CSA and since I'm not a pickle fan, I wondered what I could do with them if I did pickle some!