We can pickle that!

    We often have to remind customers that the beautiful, leafy tops of beets are deliciously edible, because in the checkouts people will  ask if we can rip off the beet greens and throw them in the compost pile!  Do you like spinach, kale or chard?  If so, prepare beet greens  in all the same ways you enjoy those veggies.

   Meanwhile, the beet root is a marvelously earthy, sweet pleasure. Oven roast them, steam them. Grate fresh, raw beets on salad,  or make a batch of beet pickles. This is a recipe I've used several times, from The Ball Blue Book, a.k.a. "the canner's Bible". Thanks to my friends Debra and Chris, our late October beet pickling party was a snap with three sets of hands on the job!

   

PICKLED BEETS

3 quarts peeled, cooked beets (about 24 small beets)

2 cups granulated sugar

2 sticks cinnamon

1 tablespoon whole allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons pickling salt

3 1/2 cups white vinegar

1 1/2 cups water

   Combine all ingredients except beets in a large sauce pot. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat, simmer 15 minutes.  Remove cinnamon sticks.

   Pack beets into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust two-piece caps.  Process pints and quarts 30 minutes in in a boiling water canner. Makes about 6 pints or 3 quarts.

Fruitfully yours,

Karin