Pickling fresh beets in evenly sized pieces with spices and other ingredients can create flavorful pickled beets. Boil beets for 30-45 minutes, add spices and vinegar, and store in sterilized jars for a few weeks to infuse flavors.
The freshness and newness of the beet are important when pickling beets. Pickled beets can be very flavorful if given enough time to ripen in the jars. Pickled beets can be made in large batches to save time, as they keep well when stored correctly. Experimenting with spices and other ingredients when pickling beets helps the cook determine the best recipe for his or her taste preferences.
Pickled beets can taste like fresh beets if the pickling process is done correctly. Use any size of beet. Halve, quarter, or chop them, but make sure the beet pieces are all evenly sized. The fresh, light, crunchy beetroot taste is preferable to older beets. 7 pounds (3.17 kg) of beets make about 8 pints (3.78 liters) of pickle.
Clean and scrub the beets in clean water and trim off their tops, leaving about an inch of root and stem. This minimizes color bleeding during the boiling process. Lightly salt the water before boiling to remove the right amount of moisture from the beets; this makes them better able to absorb the pickling solution.
Boil the beetroot for 30 to 45 minutes to make sure it still retains some firmness, or cook for 10 to 15 minutes in a pressure cooker. Keep checking the beets with a spoon by pressing down on them, but be careful not to puncture the skins or too much juice may come out. Remove the beets from the boiling water and drain well to avoid diluting the pickling solution.
Use spices such as cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns or coriander when pickling beets. Experiment with other ingredients like white sugar for sweetness or a handful of chopped onions for texture and flavor. Place the whole spices in a cheesecloth or muslin bag before cooking them in the pickling solution so they can be removed before canning. Malt vinegar is a good choice for the pickling solution but brine can also be used. Follow the recipe carefully and limit the amount of vinegar you use, as too much vinegar can make the solution too strong or discolor the beets.
Sterilize the glass jars before pickling the beets by washing them in the dishwasher or boiling them for 10 minutes. Cover the beets completely with pickling solution. Leave a half-inch of space above the pickled beets in the jar, so the mixture can expand. Place the jars tightly closed in a dark, cool place for as long as possible, preferably for a few weeks, so the flavors can infuse through the jars. Shake the jars weekly to help the flavors blend.
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