cooking thursday: recipe for pickled beets

There was a bunch of beets in last week’s CSA share. I have a well-documents distaste for beets. They’re pretty, but they taste like dirt. (At least to me, they do.) I’ve prepared them different ways, hoping something would be palatable, but so far nothing was doing it for me. So I turned to my last resort: pickling. Anything tastes good as a pickle. Right?

I had no idea there were so many different recipes for pickled beets. If I’d been printing them out, I’d need to buy extra laserjet toner cartridges because there really are that many. I ended up tweaking a very simple recipe that my dad said sounded like the one my grandmother used to make.

Much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed the final product! I let the pickled beets sit in the fridge for several days before I opened them, and I thought they were quite yummy. I added two garlic scapes, but I’m not sure they added much flavor. I also stuck an egg in there because I wanted to fill the jar. The pickled egg had a great flavor, too.

Quick & Easy Pickled Beets

pickled beets

1 bunch of beets (approx. 5-6 med. beets)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon mixed pickling spice

Trim the beets and roast (skin on) in foil at 400 degrees for about 1 hour. While the beets are roasting, bring the sugar, water, vinegar and pickling spice to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes. When the beets are ready to come out of the oven, carefully take the skins off by gently rubbing the beets with a paper towel. The skins will come right off. Slice the beets and put them in a clean jar. Pour the pickling liquid over the cooked, sliced beets. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate at least overnight or for several days.

You can certainly boil the beets instead of roasting them if you prefer. Be sure to visit Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom to check out other delicious recipes!

4 Replies to “cooking thursday: recipe for pickled beets”

  1. Pingback: {CSA 2012} Share #3 | Pure Sugar

  2. I know I look for the fastest way to do things and pickled beets is one for me. I use can beets. Pour all but maybe 1/4 cup off of the beet water. Add apple vinegar, couple table spoons of whole cloves and a little bit of sweet and low. Into the frig to chill, better overnight and then enjoy. The sweeter can be a ajusted to your likening. As I say to each his own and I really believe this because we all have different taste depending on where we live.

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