Classic Pickled Beets
Pickled beets are a delicious homemade vegetable pickle that's easy to make at home.
Ingredients
- 6 lbs 3 kg baby beets (approximately 1 to 1 ½" to 4" diameter)
- 3 sticks cinnamon broken in half (each full-length piece should be about 3" or 7 cm long)
- 2 cups 500 ml water
- 4 cups 1 L apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp 10 ml whole allspice
- 1 tsp 5 ml whole cloves
- 1 ¾ cups 425 ml packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp 15 ml pickling or canning salt
Instructions
- Wash and trim your beets and place them in a large pot. Cover the beets with cold water and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat and let it simmer for around 30 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork.
- Once they're done, immediately plunge them into a large bowl filled with cold water and let them chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to an hour. Change the water regularly to keep them cold.
- Peel off the skins and set the beets aside.
- Prepare your canner, jars, and lids.
- Put cinnamon sticks, cloves, and allspice into the center of a square of triple-layered cheesecloth and tie it into a spice bag.
- In a clean large pot, combine brown sugar, salt, water, vinegar, and your spice bag. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring often until the salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer and add your beets into the pot with the vinegar mixture. Let it simmer for around 10 minutes until the beets are heated through.
- Fill your jars with the beets and vinegar mixture, making sure to leave a 1/2 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars and put on the lids.
- Place your jars into the canner and make sure they're covered by at least one or two inches of water.
- Bring it to a boil and process the jars in a water bath canner for 30 minutes below 1,000 feet in elevation (Altitude adjustments below).
- Remove the jars from the canner and let them cool completely.
- Check your seals, label, and store.
Notes
Altitude Adjustments for Canning Pickled Beets
When processing jars in a water bath canner below 1,000 feet in elevation, both pint jars and quart jars are processed for 30 minutes. If you're above 1,000 feet in elevation, the jars are processed for more time. The times are the same for both pint and quart jars, see the table below:- Below 1,000 Feet in Elevation ~ Process pints and quarts for 30 minutes
- 1,001 to 3,000 Feet in Elevation ~ Process pints and quarts for 35 minutes
- 3,001 to 6,000 Feet in Elevation ~ Process pints and quarts for 40 minutes
- Above 6,000 Feet in Elevation ~ Process pints and quarts for 45 minutes