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about things that interest me.
Canned Spiced Beets
Posted by on January 3, 2013
Canned Spiced Beets
Plate of canned spiced beets
Canned spiced beets are a great way to preserve a beet crop for salad addition, vegetable dish or even desert.
After asking several people for their favorite recipe for canned beets, I put them together for this recipe that has turned out to be a tasty way to preserve part of my gardens production. After a full season of growth and several fall frosts I harvested about 50 feet of single row of “torpedo” beets, “Fortex” from Johnny’s seeds. A very sweet red beet when mature and good eating, thumb size young or fist size late harvest.
Beets to be cleaned
Pot of scrubbed beets for the first cooking
Taste test of Canned Spice Beets
Prepare beets by trimming off root tips and leaf head. Scrub the beets very clean as we will be saving the juice to preserve all of the nutrients. As I picked beets enough to fill a 18 quart cook pot, this recipe is sized for this amount, 12 pounds of beets, 12 quarts yield.
12 pounds cleaned beets.
12 cups apple cider vinegar
the saved beet liquid
5 cups sugar
2 table spoons salt
10 table spoons spices
ground cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg          one third each or to suit your taste
Add 6 cups water and half the salt, to pot and beets. Cover and cook 20 minuets and then allow to cool to working temperature. remove beets from pot and save liquid. Scrape off skin, a small knife held 90 degrees to the beet surface works best.
Add ingredients to liquid in pot and simmer/low boil for 30 minuets, stir occasionally while you skin and slice beets. Slice 1/4 inch or thinner, smaller pieces will pack tighter in jars. Suit your needs, be creative. Pack jars to 1/2 inch of jar rim. 12 pounds should yield 12 quarts of packed jars.
After liqueur has settled pour over packed beets, leave at least 1/4 inch of head space in jars, clean jar rims and add jar lids and rings. You should have extra liquor left over, a little more then a cup.
After the water in the wet bath reaches 210F. Boil sealed jars of beets 20 minuets to complete cooking and canning. Age a week or more and enjoy! pg
Update: this recipe works well for carrot’s as well. pg
Thanks to Judy F and EMSmith for the recipes that lead to this creation. pg
They sound great! I’ve been known to eat a pint of picked beets all in one go…
Dear P.G.:
You have been blessed by having a land and a big ingenuity to enjoy life properly.
Have a happy new year, friend ! Adolfo Rios Pita Giurfa cell.phone:51-1–99940-8840
FaceTime (Apple): giurfa@giurfa.com Skype: Adolfo.Giurfa http://www.giurfa.com http://www.giurfa.com/unified_field.pdf http://www.giurfa.com/el_campo_unificado.pdf
________________________________
@EMSmith; That should lead to colorful results later in the day.
pg
@Adolfo; yes this property is ideal for my needs. We are on the end of a long private drive. In the middle of woods. Nearest house is over a hundred yards away and not visible. So I am not usually disturbed by unwanted visitors nor are the neighbors disturbed by my activities.
pg
This turned out so well I did a second batch.
Kind of a job! 6 hours of work. Maybe I will attempt a batch of carrots next. I won’t need to peel them. pg
Did a full pot of the carrots and have started enjoying both beets and carrots. Wow! Great on salads or straight from jar. I must plant a lot more carrots and beets. The apple cider vinegar works very well with reduced sugar and the spice mix.
pg