I so love Pickled Beets.  They are something I grew up with and I still make them.  It’s a bit of a messy job but, oh, are the results so worth it!  I look upon these as vegetable candy!

Pickled beets are really nothing more than cooked beets bottled with a vinegar-sugar-spice syrup. There is, however, a process for prepping and cooking the beets and then for hot water canning them. Let’s start with some tips for successful pickling of beets.

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL
PICKLING OF BEETS

Get Organized
Just like any pickling, the pickling of beets is a sequential process and it pays to take the extra time to first get organized. The first step is to read and re-read the recipe to ensure complete understanding of the process and that you have all the necessary ingredients and equipment.

The second step in organization is to assemble all equipment and ingredients needed for cooking the beets and for the canning processes. A list of equipment and utensils needed to make the pickled beets can be found further down in this post.

Follow the Recipe Exactly – No Substituting, Omitting, or Altering Amounts of Ingredients

For success, follow the recipe exactly, without substituting, omitting, or altering amounts of ingredients (unless an ingredient is listed as “optional”). Each ingredient contributes something valuable to the finished product.

Use Only Proper Canning Jars for Pickled Beets

Ensure that proper canning jars, approved for hot water processing, are used for the pickled beets. These are bottles such as Mason or Ball brand jars that are made of specially tempered glass capable of withstanding heat that will be necessary in the hot water canner for safe home canning of products. The glass jars have a wide mouth top and consist of a two-part lid and screw band/ring. Exercise caution purchasing jars, that look very much like canning jars, at places like discount stores or thrift/second hand shops as they may not, in fact, be tempered glass suitable for canning.

While previous generations may have used just any old bottles they had at their disposal, using recycled bottles from store-bought products like pasta sauce or bought pickles, for example, is not recommended for food safe home canning. First, these jars, having already been sealed by the manufacturer and the seals, having been broken by the consumer to reveal the jar contents, no longer have proper sealing covers considered safe for home canning of products. Second, the bottles are generally made of glass not as thick as proper home canning jars and, therefore, are not considered to be resistant to heat extremes. This means they could shatter or explode when placed in the hot water canner.

With the potential for so many air- and food-borne illnesses to occur today and with the changing conditions in which our foods are grown (or modified), along with the fact that most homes today do not have dedicated temperature-controlled cold rooms (or cold cellars like many of our ancestors had) in which to store home canned goods, it is all the more reason why both the proper canning jars and home canning procedures are an essential component to pickling. Do not skip the proper bottle sterilization and hot water canning processes.

Sterilizing the Jars

I recommend the traditional method of sterilizing the jars in hot water as it allows good control of the timing of having the hot jars ready at the express moment the beets are ready for bottling. The jars must be hot when they are filled with the beets as they will immediately be going into the canner of boiling water and cold jars are likely to crack.

Approximately six (6) to seven (7) pint sized glass canning jars will be required for this recipe. I recommend preparing for seven just in case an extra jar is needed. Begin by inspecting each jar before using it to ensure there are no chips or cracks.

Since it doesn’t take long to cook the syrup for the beets, you will want to get the jar sterilization process underway shortly after the beets are cooking. It takes longer than you might think to get a big pot of hot tap water filled with jars to the boiling stage.

Wash the jars in hot soapy water. Rinse well and drain jars. Fill a large-sized stockpot (fitted with a wire rack to keep the jars up off the bottom of the pot) about half full of hot tap water. Make sure the pot is capable of holding at least 7-8 pint-sized jars upright. Use two stockpots, if necessary, for this process. Do not stack jars, one on top of another. Place the jars, upright and in single layer, into the water. Ensure the jars are fully submerged, each jar filled with water from the canner as it is being submerged, and that the water is at least an inch over the tops of the jars, adding more water if necessary. Cover, bring to a boil, and boil gently for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave the jars in the hot water to have ready to fill once the beets are ready to be bottled.

Because so many factors can impact and determine exactly how many jars will be needed to accommodate the beets, I recommend having at least one to two extra jars sanitized in case they are needed. Even if they aren’t needed to be filled with beets, the hot empty jars may be needed to fill up space in the hot water canner if it is not completely filled to capacity with jars containing the beets. This is to ensure that the filled jars do not topple over during the hot water processing.

To protect your countertop from the hot wet bottles and syrup drippings, use a heatproof cutting board covered with newspaper to protect the board. Set a wire rack on top of the board as a base for the hot jars to sit.

Lids and Screw Bands/Rings

The flat metal lids for the canning jars are only intended for single use and are NEVER to be reused for canning food. Always, always use new lids for each canning session. The lids are inexpensive so don’t risk re-using them. Once you finish a bottle of beets, turf the lid. The screw bands/rings, on the other hand, can be re-used so long as they don’t have any rust spots on them or any dents.

While, historically, the lids (with the orange-rust colored gasket on their underside) were preheated in simmering hot water for 1-2 minutes to soften the lid gasket before applying the lids to the hot jars, Bernardin® (the company that manufactures canning lids available here in Canada) is now (2024) saying that preheating their own particular brand of lids is no longer necessary to provide a proper seal as the sealing compound they use in their lid manufacturing performs better at room temperature. They recommend washing the lids in hot soapy water, rinsing them, and setting the lids aside until needed in the canning process.

Note this pertains specifically to the Bernardin® brand of lids. Other manufacturers’ lids may differ so, if you are using another brand of lids, do check the manufacturer’s instructions with respect to heating lids or not for their particular brand lids. Typically, if a brand of lids requires them to be preheated, the method is simply to place the lids in a small pan of simmering hot water over low heat just long enough to heat the rubber gasket. This won’t take longer than a minute or two at most. Do not boil the lids.

Preparing and Cooking the Beets

For pickling, I recommend cylindra beets if you can get them. They are long and slender and slice nicely for fitting in to the jars and are also great for presentation.

Regular ball beets can, of course, be used for pickling and, in fact, that’s all my grandmothers would have used – just the regular garden variety. However, some of the round beets grow quite large and the slices have to be cut into two or three pieces to get them to fit in the jars and they don’t look quite as nice for presentation….same great taste, though.

Beets take awhile to cook so patience is required for this exercise. Try to select uniformly-sized beets so they all cook at the same rate. However, if you have a mixture of sizes, place the larger ones in the bottom of the pot and the smaller ones on top.

Don’t peel the beets before they are cooked. Simply remove the leaves, leaving about 1″ stem and the root end intact. Weigh the beets at this stage – 5 lbs are required for this recipe. Removing the stem or root end will cause bleeding and the vegetable will lose its vibrant color and flavor during the cooking process. The stem ends get removed after cooking and the beets get peeled after they are cooked. In fact, the skins will usually just easily slip off the cooked beets.

Because the beets are a bit messy to deal with, and they can stain surfaces, walls, and backsplashes, I use a portable burner and cook them outside so there is less chance of beet-spattered walls and counters in my kitchen. The beets can, of course, be cooked on the kitchen stove but I do recommend exercising caution to ensure they don’t boil over or splatter as they cook.

Cover the beets with boiling water and add a couple of teaspoons of cooking oil to help inhibit beets from boiling over and leaving their calling card on the stove, walls, or backsplash. Cook the beets over medium-high heat until they are fork tender. Once the beets come to a boil, start the bottle sterilization process to have the bottles hot and ready when the beets are cooked. Also, start heating the canner water.

Making the Syrup

When the beets are testing nearly cooked but not quite, start the syrup to cook in a separate smaller stockpot. The syrup should cook for about 18-20 minutes at a slow boil. Don’t boil it too rapidly or for too long as it will evaporate and there won’t be enough syrup to fill the jars. This means more syrup has to be made and the hot syrup needs to go over the hot beets as soon as they are bottled so timing is everything. For instructions on how to make the spice sachet used in the syrup, visit my posting on making mustard pickles by clicking here. I also recommend that pickling vinegar be used in the syrup. It will have 7% acidity, making it stronger than table vinegar and will help to preserve the beets longer.

Filling the Jars with Cooked Beets

When the beets are cooked and ready to be bottled, use a jar lifter to remove the hot sanitized jars from the water and carefully empty out the hot water from each jar back into the stock pot. Drain jars well and transfer them, upright, to the wire rack on the heatproof board. Do be very careful as this is scalding hot water.

The cooked beets will be hot to handle so can be given a very quick rinse under cold running water to make them easier to handle for peeling and slicing. However, they have to be bottled hot so don’t over-do the rinsing or let the beets cool or get cold. I recommend slicing the hot beets about 1/4″ thick. Pack the beets well into the hot sterilized jars, leaving about 1″ headroom.

Immediately use a heatproof glass measuring cup or ladle to transfer the hot syrup into the jars. Fill the jars with syrup, leaving about ½″ headroom in each. It is important to not let jars cool before filling with the hot beets as cold jars going into a canner filled with boiling water may crack. This is why it is important to work quickly, follow the sequential processes, and have everything ready to go when the beets are cooked.

Remove any air bubbles that may appear in the jars by inserting a chopstick or small heat-proof spatula into each bottle and gently moving the beet slices to remove any pockets of air that may have formed. Add more syrup, if necessary, to bring the syrup up to ½” from jar rim.

Make sure the rims of the filled jars have been wiped with a clean damp cloth to remove any syrup residue. Even a small drop of it may prevent the lids from sealing properly and keeping out harmful bacteria that could cause the beets to spoil or someone to become ill from consuming them.

Center the washed and rinsed lids on jars so the sealing compound on the lid edges aligns with the jar rims. Fingertip tighten screw bands/rings on jars until resistance is encountered. Do not over-tighten.

Hot Water Processing of Pickled Beets

The jars of hot beets and syrup need to immediately be processed in a hot water bath to ensure that any microorganisms are destroyed and the pickled beets are shelf-stable for several months. At its most basic, home canning is the process of heating the hot sealed jars of pickled beets in a canner of boiling water for several minutes to destroy microorganisms that can cause the jar contents to spoil or people to become ill from consuming the contents contained in the jars. The process of hot water canning also gives the beets shelf stability over several months. Note that hot water processing times vary according to the altitude of the area in which you live and, of course, the size of jars used. The processing time indicated in this recipe are for pint sized jars and for altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m).

As mentioned above, with the potential for so many air- and food-borne illnesses to occur today and with the changing conditions in which our foods are grown (or modified) and stored in homes, proper home canning procedures are an essential component to safe pickling. Do not skip the proper hot water canning process for these pickled beets.

Canners come in different sizes and depths to accommodate different sizes of jars. The canner(s) must have the capacity to hold jars the size and number called for in a recipe and allow for boiling water to cover the jars by 1″ when they are placed in the basket inside the canner.

Here in Canada, hot water canners are relatively inexpensive and can usually be found at stores like Walmart, hardware stores (e.g., Home Hardware and Canadian Tire) as well as some large supermarkets and other places, including Amazon.

For any one wishing to learn more about home canning, there are a number of reputable and reliable sources of information available on the current proper methods of canning. Books on the topic are available at libraries, bookstores, and online. The internet is also a good place to start your research but do ensure you consult reputable sites. I find, for example, a lot of university extension department websites contain good information on proper home canning procedures as do canning jar and lid manufacturing sites.

While the beets are cooking and as soon as you have gotten the bottle sterilization process underway, fill the canner about one-half full of hot tap water and, over medium-high heat, bring the canner water to the boiling stage to have ready when the beets are bottled and ready for their hot water bath. Reduce heat to keep the canner water hot until the beets are in the bottles.

It’s also a good idea, while you are cutting up and bottling the beets, to get a kettle of boiling water ready in case extra is needed to top up the canner after the filled jars are added. The hot jars of beets need to immediately go into the hot water bath as soon as they are filled so, after the beets are bottled, there will be no time then to start boiling the water to top up the canner (if needed) which can take a significant period of time.

My recipe for pickled beets should yield approximately 6 pint jars but it is always difficult to say, with exact assurance, the precise quantity of pickled beets a recipe will yield – it could be a bottle or two less or more. The exact amount of jars is difficult to predict with 100% accuracy as it depends on many factors including the size of beets, how they are cut up and how they are packed into the jars, etc. For this reason, I do recommend having 1-2 extra hot jars ready to fill up the canner space, if they are needed, so the filled jars do not topple over while being processed. While the empty jars for this purpose do not need to be sanitized, they must be hot going into the boiling water in the canner as, otherwise, the temperature change could cause cold jars to crack when they are submerged into the boiling water. The easiest way I find to heat them is to simply put them in the pot with the jars being sterilized.

Using jar lifter tongs, carefully place filled and capped jars upright and in a single layer in the wire basket positioned in the canner, ensuring jars do not touch each other or fall over. If a canner is not completely full to capacity of filled jars, add one or more hot empty jars, upright, to the basket to fill up space so the filled jars do not topple over during processing. Should this be necessary, let the empty jars fill with the hot water from the canner as they are submerged.

Ensure the water level is at least 1” above the tops of jars, adding more boiling water as necessary.

Cover the canner with its lid. Increase the heat to return the water to a full rolling boil then decrease the heat to just keep the water at a moderately rolling boil but not boiling over. Process the half pint jars in the hot water bath for 30 minutes, adjusting time as and if necessary for altitude. Start timing the processing from the point at which a full rolling boil is reached after jars have been added to the canner.

At the end of the processing time, turn off heat and remove canner lid. Note that, if jars used are a different size than the pint size called for in this recipe, this will affect the hot water canning times and adjustments will need to be made.

Let jars sit in the hot water for 5 minutes then, using jar lifter tongs, carefully remove the jars filled with beets, one at a time, upright and without tilting them, and transfer them to a heat-proof cutting board, that has been covered with a towel to protect it, to cool completely. Listen for the “pop” or “ping” sound as the bottles seal over the next few minutes or hours. The lids of properly sealed jars will curve downward.

Check Processed Jars for Proper Sealing

Let jars rest, undisturbed and covered with a towel to keep light out, on counter for 24 hours. Then, test each jar for proper sealing by lightly pressing down on the center of each jar lid. If the lid is already pressed downward, and does not pop back up, it is properly sealed. Any jars that do not pass this test should be refrigerated and the beets used within a week or so.

Storing Pickled Beets

Store properly sealed bottles in cool, dry, dark place and let rest for at least 1 -2 weeks before opening to allow flavors to develop. Use pickled beets within one year of bottling. Refrigerate beets once jar has been opened.

Doubling or Tripling the Recipe

I am often asked if a pickling recipe can be doubled or even tripled. While, theoretically, yes, I do not recommend it for several reasons. First, if a mistake should happen to be made with an amount of an ingredient (or an ingredient be missed altogether), two or three batches of whatever is being made have been ruined.

Second, while not an issue with pickled beets per se, doubling or tripling a recipe of mustard pickles, for example, is problematic because it is more difficult to get large amounts of the vegetables properly heated in the sauce.

Lastly, unless you have 2-3 hot water canners and a stove large enough to accommodate all of them operating at once, some of the filled bottles will be left sitting on the counter awaiting their turn for hot water processing. In the case of pickled beets, once they have been placed in the canner, it will likely take 4-5 minutes to get the canner water back to boiling, plus the 30 minutes of active hot water processing once the water has started to boil, plus another 5 minutes at the end for the bottles to sit in the hot water after the heat has been turned off, that means it will take about 40 minutes to process a batch of beets. Meanwhile, extra filled jars of beets will be left sitting on the counter for approximately 40 minutes or so awaiting their turn in the canner and cooling off in the process. The jars filled with the product must immediately go into the hot water canner as soon as they are filled and capped and not be left sitting on the counter for any length of time.

My advice is to take your time and make one batch at a time which will make the entire process more manageable.

Best Pickled Beets

Supplies and Equipment Needed:
6 pint-sized glass canning jars for the beets (plus a couple more pint-sized jars to take up extra space in the canner basket, if needed, during the hot water processing)
6 – two-piece lid and screw band sets (lids must be brand new and NOT previously used)
Heat-proof cutting board and wire rack for sitting hot jars on
Large, heavy-bottomed, stock pot for cooking beets
Large-sized pot (or two) fitted with wire rack for sterilizing jars
Small-to-medium sized stockpot for making the syrup
Hot water canner with basket
Jar lifter tongs
Ladle or heat-proof glass measuring cup
Chopstick or small non-metallic heat-proof spatula to remove any air bubbles/air pockets from filled jars
Clean damp cloth for wiping rims of beet and syrup-filled jars
A timer

Ingredients:
5 lbs cylindra beets*, (weighed after leaves removed but with 1” stem and root ends intact) [*See Note 1]
Boiling water
2 tsp cooking oil

2¾ cups brown sugar
2¾ cups pickling vinegar (7% acidity)
1 cup + 3 tbsp water
2¾ tsp pickling spice, tied into a small cheesecloth sachet
2 – 6” cinnamon sticks
¼ tsp salt

Method:

Pre-Prep
Assemble and set out all equipment and ingredients.

Make the spice sachet by placing the pickling spice onto a small square (apx. 6”-7” square) of cheesecloth and tying up ends with kitchen string or heavy thread. If cheesecloth has a very open weave, use two to three layers to enclose and contain the spices.

Inspect jars to ensure there are no chips or cracks in them. Inspect screw bands/rings to ensure there are not dents in them or any rust. Set out new lids.

Preparing and Cooking the Beets
Try to select uniformly-sized beets so they all cook at the same rate. Remove the leaves from the beets, leaving about 1” stem in place as well as the root end then weigh out 5 lbs of beets. Rinse beets under cold water to remove any dirt. Do not peel beets. If some beets are larger than others, place them in the bottom of the large stockpot with the smaller ones on top. Cover the beets with boiling water and add 2 tsp cooking oil. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until beets are fork tender. Be patient; beets take a long time to cook.

Jar Sterilization
As soon as the beets start cooking, begin the jar sterilization process. It takes longer than you might think to get a big pot of hot tap water filled with jars to the boiling stage.

Wash the jars in hot soapy water. Rinse well and drain jars. Fill a large-sized pot (fitted with a wire rack to keep the jars up off the bottom of the pot), capable of holding at least 7-8 pint-sized jars upright. Use two pots for this process, if necessary. Do not stack jars, one on top of another. Place the jars, upright and in single layer, into the water. Ensure the jars are fully submerged, each jar is filled with water from the canner as it is submerged, and that the water is at least an inch over the tops of the jars, adding more water if necessary. Cover, bring to a boil, and boil gently for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave the jars in the hot water to have ready to fill once the beets are ready to be bottled.

Because so many factors can impact and determine exactly how many jars will be needed to accommodate the beets, it is recommended to have at least one to two extra jars sanitized in case they are needed. Even if they aren’t needed to be filled with beets, the hot empty jars may be needed to fill up space in the hot water canner if it is not completely filled to capacity with jars containing the beets. This is to ensure that the filled jars do not topple over during the hot water processing.

To protect your countertop from the hot wet bottles and syrup drippings, use a heatproof cutting board covered with newspaper to protect the board. Set a wire rack on top of the board as a base for the hot jars to sit.

Preparing the Hot Water Canner
While the beets are cooking and as soon as you have gotten the bottle sterilization process underway, fill the canner about one-half full of hot tap water and, over medium-high heat, bring the canner water to the boiling stage to have ready when the beets are bottled and ready for their hot water bath. Reduce heat to keep the canner water hot until the beets are in the bottles.

Making the Syrup
When the beets are starting to get along with their cooking (about 20 minutes or so away from being fork tender), start making the syrup in a separate smaller stockpot. Combine the sugar, vinegar, water, pickling spice sachet, cinnamon sticks, and salt into the stockpot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and boil, uncovered, slowly for about 18-20 minutes. Do not boil the syrup too rapidly or for too long as it will evaporate and there won’t be enough syrup to fill the jars. This means more syrup has to be made and the hot syrup needs to go over the hot beets as soon as they are bottled so timing is everything.

Bottling the Beets
Remove cooked beets from water, rinse quickly under cold water to make them easier to handle for peeling and slicing. Do not cool down beets too much or let them get cold as they must be hot going into the bottles. Peel beets and remove and discard stem and root ends.

Using jar lifter tongs, carefully remove the hot sterilized jars from the water, one at a time, emptying the water from the jars back into the pot. Drain jars well and place on heat-proof board with wire rack on top. Do be very careful as this is scalding hot water.

Slice hot beets into ¼” thick slices and pack into sterilized jars, leaving 1” headroom.

While beets are being sliced and bottled, boil a kettle of water to have ready in case extra is needed to top up the canner after the filled jars are added.

Remove and discard the pickling spice sachet and cinnamon sticks from the syrup. Ladle hot syrup over beets leaving ½“ headroom in each jar to allow for expansion during the hot water processing. Remove any air bubbles that may appear in the jars by inserting a chopstick or small heat-proof spatula into each bottle and gently moving the beet slices to remove any pockets of air that may have formed. Add more sliced beets to jars, if necessary, to bring beets up to 1“ from jar rims and more syrup to bring it to ½” from jar rim. Wipe the jar rims with a clean damp cloth to remove any stickiness that could prevent the lids from sealing properly to the jars.

Center the washed lids (See Note 2 below) on jars so the sealing compound on the lid edges aligns with the jar rims. Fingertip tighten screw bands/rings until resistance is encountered. Do not over-tighten.

Hot Water Processing
Immediately upon jars being filled and capped, use jar lifter tongs to carefully place filled jars upright in wire basket positioned in the canner, ensuring jars do not touch each other or fall over. If a canner is not completely full of filled jars, add enough hot empty jars to fill it to capacity to prevent filled jars from toppling over during processing. Make sure the empty jars are already hot as cold jars immersed in boiling hot water are likely to crack. Let the empty jars fill with water from the canner as they are submerged.

Ensure the water level is at least 1” above the tops of jars, adding more boiling water as necessary. Cover with canner lid. Increase the heat to return the water to a full rolling boil then decrease the heat to just keep the water at a moderately rolling boil but not boiling over. Process pint-sized jars in the hot water bath for 30 minutes (see Note 3 below), adjusting time as and if necessary for altitude. Start timing the processing from the point at which a full rolling boil is reached after jars have been added to the canner. At the end of the processing time, turn off heat and remove canner lid.

Let jars sit in the hot water for 5 minutes then, using jar lifter tongs, carefully remove the jars filled with beets, one at a time, upright and without tilting them, and transfer them to a heat-proof cutting board, that has been covered with a towel, to cool completely. Listen for the “pop” or “ping” sound as the bottles seal over the next few minutes or hours. The lids of properly sealed jars will curve downward.

Testing Lids for Proper Sealing
Cover jars with a towel to keep light out and let jars rest, undisturbed, on counter for 24 hours. Then, test each jar for proper sealing by lightly pressing down on the center of each jar lid. If the lid is already pressed downward, and does not pop back up, it is properly sealed. Any jars that do not pass this test should be refrigerated and the beets used within a week or so.

Storage of Pickled Beets
Store properly sealed bottles in cool, dry, dark place and allow to rest for at least 1-2 weeks to allow flavor to fully develop before opening. Use beets within 1 year of bottling. Refrigerate beets once jar has been opened.

Yield: Apx. 6 pints

NOTE 1: Long and slender cylinder beets are recommended for pickling as they slice into uniform slices, fit well into the jars, and have lovely presentation. Regular ball beets can, of course, be used for pickling; however, some of the round beets grow quite large and the slices may have to be cut into two or three pieces to get them to fit in the jars.

NOTE 2: While, historically, the lids (with the orange-rust colored gasket on their underside) were preheated in simmering hot water for 1-2 minutes to soften the lid gasket before applying the lids to the hot jars, Bernardin® (the company that manufactures canning lids available in Canada) is now (2024) saying that preheating their particular brand of lids is no longer necessary to provide a proper seal as the sealing compound they use in their lid manufacturing performs better at room temperature. They recommend washing the lids in hot soapy water, rinsing them, and setting the lids aside until needed in the canning process.

Note this pertains specifically to the Bernardin® brand of lids. Other manufacturers’ lids may differ so, if you are using another brand of lids, do check the manufacturer’s instructions for lid preparation of their particular brand lids. Typically, if a brand’s lids need to be preheated, the method is simply to place the lids in a small pan of simmering hot water over low heat just long enough to heat the rubber piece. This doesn’t take longer than a minute or two at most. Do not boil the lids.

NOTE 3: Using jars other than the size indicated in the recipe (pints) may require adjustment to the hot water processing time of 30 minutes.

We enjoy these tasty pickled beets with cooked dinners such as the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey dinners as well as with roast beef or pork dinners. They are also good served with cold meats.

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Best Pickled Beets

These tasty sweet pickled beets are showy in presentation and are a fine accompaniment to many meals. A Prince Edward Island favorite.

Course Condiments

Cuisine Canadian

Keyword beets, pickled beets

My Island Bistro Kitchen Barbara - My Island Bistro Kitchen

Ingredients

• 5 lbs cylindra beets*, (weighed after leaves removed but with 1” stem and root ends intact) [*See Note 1]
• Boiling water
• 2 tsp cooking oil
• 2¾ cups brown sugar
• 2¾ cups pickling vinegar (7% acidity)
• 1 cup + 3 tbsp water
• 2¾ tsp pickling spice, tied into a small cheesecloth sachet
• 2 – 6” cinnamon sticks
• ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

Pre-Prep

1. Assemble and set out all equipment and ingredients.
2. Make the spice sachet by placing the pickling spice onto a small square (apx. 6”-7” square) of cheesecloth and tying up ends with kitchen string or heavy thread. If cheesecloth has a very open weave, use two to three layers to enclose and contain the spices.
3. Inspect jars to ensure there are no chips or cracks in them. Inspect screw bands/rings to ensure there are not dents in them or any rust. Set out new lids.

Preparing and Cooking the Beets

1. Try to select uniformly-sized beets so they all cook at the same rate. Remove the leaves from the beets, leaving about 1” stem in place as well as the root end then weigh out 5 lbs of beets. Rinse beets under cold water to remove any dirt. Do not peel beets. If some beets are larger than others, place them in the bottom of the large stockpot with the smaller ones on top. Cover the beets with boiling water and add 2 tsp cooking oil. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until beets are fork tender. Be patient; beets take a long time to cook.

Jar Sterilization

1. As soon as the beets start cooking, begin the jar sterilization process. It takes longer than you might think to get a big pot of hot tap water filled with jars to the boiling stage.
2. Wash the jars in hot soapy water. Rinse well and drain jars. Fill a large-sized pot (fitted with a wire rack to keep the jars up off the bottom of the pot), capable of holding at least 7-8 pint-sized jars upright. Use two pots for this process, if necessary. Do not stack jars, one on top of another. Place the jars, upright and in single layer, into the water. Ensure the jars are fully submerged, each jar is filled with water from the canner as it is submerged, and that the water is at least an inch over the tops of the jars, adding more water if necessary. Cover, bring to a boil, and boil gently for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave the jars in the hot water to have ready to fill once the beets are ready to be bottled.
3. Because so many factors can impact and determine exactly how many jars will be needed to accommodate the beets, it is recommended to have at least one to two extra jars sanitized in case they are needed. Even if they aren’t needed to be filled with beets, the hot empty jars may be needed to fill up space in the hot water canner if it is not completely filled to capacity with jars containing the beets. This is to ensure that the filled jars do not topple over during the hot water processing.
4. To protect your countertop from the hot wet bottles and syrup drippings, use a heatproof cutting board covered with newspaper to protect the board. Set a wire rack on top of the board as a base for the hot jars to sit.

Preparing the Hot Water Canner

1. While the beets are cooking and as soon as you have gotten the bottle sterilization process underway, fill the canner about one-half full of hot tap water and, over medium-high heat, bring the canner water to the boiling stage to have ready when the beets are bottled and ready for their hot water bath. Reduce heat to keep the canner water hot until the beets are in the bottles.

Making the Syrup

1. When the beets are starting to get along with their cooking (about 20 minutes or so away from being fork tender), start making the syrup in a separate smaller stockpot. Combine the sugar, vinegar, water, pickling spice sachet, cinnamon sticks, and salt into the stockpot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and boil, uncovered, slowly for about 18-20 minutes. Do not boil the syrup too rapidly or for too long as it will evaporate and there won’t be enough syrup to fill the jars. This means more syrup has to be made and the hot syrup needs to go over the hot beets as soon as they are bottled so timing is everything.

Bottling the Beets

1. Remove cooked beets from water, rinse quickly under cold water to make them easier to handle for peeling and slicing. Do not cool down beets too much or let them get cold as they must be hot going into the bottles. Peel beets and remove and discard stem and root ends.
2. Using jar lifter tongs, carefully remove the hot sterilized jars from the water, one at a time, emptying the water from the jars back into the pot. Drain jars well and place on heat-proof board with wire rack on top. Do be very careful as this is scalding hot water.
3. Slice hot beets into ¼” thick slices and pack into sterilized jars, leaving 1” headroom.
4. While beets are being sliced and bottled, boil a kettle of water to have ready in case extra is needed to top up the canner after the filled jars are added.
5. Remove and discard the pickling spice sachet and cinnamon sticks from the syrup. Ladle hot syrup over beets leaving ½“ headroom in each jar to allow for expansion during the hot water processing. Remove any air bubbles that may appear in the jars by inserting a chopstick or small heat-proof spatula into each bottle and gently moving the beet slices to remove any pockets of air that may have formed. Add more sliced beets to jars, if necessary, to bring beets up to 1“ from jar rims and more syrup to bring it to ½” from jar rim. Wipe the jar rims with a clean damp cloth to remove any stickiness that could prevent the lids from sealing properly to the jars.
6. Center the washed lids (See Note 2 below) on jars so the sealing compound on the lid edges aligns with the jar rims. Fingertip tighten screw bands/rings until resistance is encountered. Do not over-tighten.

Hot Water Processing

1. Immediately upon jars being filled and capped, use jar lifter tongs to carefully place filled jars upright in wire basket positioned in the canner, ensuring jars do not touch each other or fall over. If a canner is not completely full of filled jars, add enough hot empty jars to fill it to capacity to prevent filled jars from toppling over during processing. Make sure the empty jars are already hot as cold jars immersed in boiling hot water are likely to crack. Let the empty jars fill with water from the canner as they are submerged.
2. Ensure the water level is at least 1” above the tops of jars, adding more boiling water as necessary. Cover with canner lid. Increase the heat to return the water to a full rolling boil then decrease the heat to just keep the water at a moderately rolling boil but not boiling over. Process pint-sized jars in the hot water bath for 30 minutes (see Note 3 below), adjusting time as and if necessary for altitude. Start timing the processing from the point at which a full rolling boil is reached after jars have been added to the canner. At the end of the processing time, turn off heat and remove canner lid.
3. Let jars sit in the hot water for 5 minutes then, using jar lifter tongs, carefully remove the jars filled with beets, one at a time, upright and without tilting them, and transfer them to a heat-proof cutting board, that has been covered with a towel, to cool completely. Listen for the “pop” or “ping” sound as the bottles seal over the next few minutes or hours. The lids of properly sealed jars will curve downward.

Testing Lids for Proper Sealing

1. Cover jars with a towel to keep light out and let jars rest, undisturbed, on counter for 24 hours. Then, test each jar for proper sealing by lightly pressing down on the center of each jar lid. If the lid is already pressed downward, and does not pop back up, it is properly sealed. Any jars that do not pass this test should be refrigerated and the beets used within a week or so.

Storage of Pickled Beets

1. Store properly sealed bottles in cool, dry, dark place and allow to rest for at least 1-2 weeks to allow flavor to fully develop before opening. Use beets within 1 year of bottling. Refrigerate beets once jar has been opened.

Recipe Notes

Yield: Apx. 6 pints

[Copyright My Island Bistro Kitchen]

NOTE 1: Long and slender cylinder beets are recommended for pickling as they slice into uniform slices, fit well into the jars, and have lovely presentation. Regular ball beets can, of course, be used for pickling; however, some of the round beets grow quite large and the slices may have to be cut into two or three pieces to get them to fit in the jars.

NOTE 2: While, historically, the lids (with the orange-rust colored gasket on their underside) were preheated in simmering hot water for 1-2 minutes to soften the lid gasket before applying the lids to the hot jars, Bernardin® (the company that manufactures canning lids available in Canada) is now (2024) saying that preheating their particular brand of lids is no longer necessary to provide a proper seal as the sealing compound they use in their lid manufacturing performs better at room temperature. They recommend washing the lids in hot soapy water, rinsing them, and setting the lids aside until needed in the canning process.

Note this pertains specifically to the Bernardin® brand of lids. Other manufacturers’ lids may differ so, if you are using another brand of lids, do check the manufacturer’s instructions for lid preparation of their particular brand lids. Typically, if a brand’s lids need to be preheated, the method is simply to place the lids in a small pan of simmering hot water over low heat just long enough to heat the rubber piece. This doesn't take longer than a minute or two at most. Do not boil the lids.

NOTE 3: Using jars other than the size indicated in the recipe (pints) may require adjustment to the hot water processing time of 30 minutes.

For more of my pickle and chow recipes, click these links:

Mustard Pickles
Bread and Butter Pickles
Green Tomato Chow
Mustard Beans
Dill Pickles

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[This post and recipe were last updated on September 8, 2024]