June 25th, 2009 Pickled Beets
It’s almost time to pick beets. We still have a few quarts left from last year’s harvest, and a favorite summer side dish of ours is pickled beets.
I use home-canned beets, but the canned ones from the grocery store work just as well.
This original recipe is from the 1944 edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. There’s not much sugar in the recipe (remember – sugar was rationed in 1944) but, in my opinion, beets are sweet enough on their own and don’t need copious amounts of added sweetener.
You’ll need:
1 quart jar canned beets or 2 cans beets, drained (don’t throw the juice away)Â You can use sliced beets or small whole baby beets.
1/2 cup beet juice (or you can use water, but why would you want to?)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (powdered stuff, not what you put on hot dogs)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1/2 teaspoon cloves, powdered
1 clove of garlic, cut in half
12 tablespoons vinegar (I used white, but apple cider vinegar is good, too)
Drain the juice from the beets into a bowl or a measuring cup. Add mustard, sugar, salt, cloves, garlic and vinegar. Whisk until the mixture is smooth.
Pour over the beets. Put in the refrigerator to chill.
*The original recipe calls for salt, but I add a bit of salt when canning the beets, so I don’t add any more when pickling them. Often commercially canned vegetables contain a lot of salt, so taste before you add any!
If you don’t have powdered mustard, just leave it out or you can add a tiny bit of horseradish to taste. If you don’t care for cloves, you can leave them out as well, but I think they add a nice spicy sweetness.
