Nana T’s Pickled Beets

I had all these wonderful plans for Sunday. Cut the grass, do some laundry, pick up some groceries and relax.

I decided to hit the grocery store first to get that out of the way but when I walked into my local grocery store, my eyes widened. Right inside there were stacks of 10lbs bags of Ontario potatoes, carrots, onions and beets. I was planning to walk by and go about my shopping, until I saw the price all these 10lb bags.. I blinked. I looked around to see if someone was playing a joke on me. I walked around the stacks to see if the other side had a different price. It didn’t. I could not resist this. I can never resist a bargain. I picked up the bag of beets and while putting it in my cart I watched all my best laid plans disappear. 10lbs bag of beets for only $1.88. I could almost taste grandma’s pickled beets already. I carried my bag of beets into my house and excitedly called out to D to come see what I got! I quickly started digging through Nana’s recipe folders and Eureka! I found the recipe and got to work.

Nana T’s Pickled Beets 

10 medium-large beets, about 3 1/2lbs (I did 5 lbs and increased the liquid amounts)

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup white vinegar

1 tsp salt

Trim the leaves off the beets about 1 inch from the bulb. Scrub beets, place in a pot, cover with cold water and bring to boil. Cook covered, until tender enough to slip the skins off easily, about 45-60+ minutes (depending on size of beets).

Drain, skin, slice or quarter and pack into hot sterilized jars. 

Combine sugar, water, vinegar and salt;  bring to a boil and pour over hot beets. Seal and store.

5 lbs of beets makes 12 - 250ml jars. 

Note: Use rubber gloves when handling the beets and have your work surface covered really well to stop the red juice from staining everything. The juice stains everything. You will spend more time cleaning up after than anything else!