Pickled Beets

Gather

Ingredients

• 7 lbs of 2- to 2-1/2-inch diameter beets
• 4 cups vinegar (5 percent)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons canning or pickling salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 12 whole cloves
• 4 to 6 onions (2- to 2-1/2-inch diameter) if desired

Preserve

Instructions

1. 01

   Keep the roots and 1 inch of stem when trimming these beets. Rinse them and separate them by size. Cook similar-sized beets under boiling water for roughly 25 to 30 minutes, until tender, then discard the water.

2. 02

   Cool, peel, and remove the stems and roots. Cut the beets into ¼-inch slices and thinly slice the optional onions. For the baby-beet version, use 1- to 1½-inch beets and leave them whole after peeling.

3. 03

   Tie the cinnamon and cloves in a spice bag. Boil the 5% vinegar, salt, sugar, fresh water, and spice bag; add beets and onions and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the bag.

4. 04

   Divide the hot vegetables among hot pint or quart jars and add the hot vinegar liquid. Maintain ½-inch headspace, remove air, clean the rims, and close the jars.

5. 05

   Boiling-water process pints or quarts for 30 minutes at 0-1,000 ft. Use the elevation tool to add the required time at higher elevations.
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