Pleasant Valley Plant Farm

The holiday vegetable and relish tray looks it’s best with a section of beautiful deep burgundy colored pickled beets.  The cinnamon spice flavor just tastes festive.

Choose small whole beets ( about 2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter ).  Wash beets leaving on the roots and 1 inch of the tops.  Cover with boiling water and simmer for 25 minutes.  While still hot, but cool enough to handle, slip off the skins and trim ends of the beets.  Rinse, drain and pack beets into jars.  ( Large beets can now be cut to fit into the jars ).

For every 4 quarts of beets, you will need : 

  4 cups vinegar ( white distilled )

  2 cups sugar

  1 cup water

  1 tablespoon Mustard seeds

  1 tablespoon cinnamon

  1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

  1 teaspoon ground allspice

  1 teaspoon salt

Combine above ingredients in large kettle and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. ( At this point, I usually pour it through a strainer into another kettle to remove the mustard seeds ).

Pour boiling pickling liquid over beets in the jar, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Clean jar rims, place lids and adjust bands to finger tight.  Process in boiling water bath canner, with water level about 2 inches above jars, for 30 minutes.  Remove from canner, cool and check lids before storing.