Tasty Homemade Pickled Beets Recipe

5 Steps To Making Homemade Pickled Beets

Ever since I can remember I have been a huge fan of homemade pickled Beets or Beetroot, as we refer to it in South Africa. My mother used to make Beetroot quite often and would put the Beets into the fridge to cool. My brother and I were convinced that she would never notice if we helped ourselves to one each. We would put salt and pepper on, dash off to the back yard and eat it like an apple.

It was many years later that I was told by my mother that she knew about every Beetroot we had taken, and that it was never a problem as she knew that it was good for us.

The number of vitamins that are found in Beets are remarkably high. I am not a nutritionist so I am not going to go into the health benefits of Beetroot. I am pretty sure that you can find loads of useful nutritional information with a simple Google search.

There are many ways that one can enjoy Beetroot, boiled or steamed, and they are equally good for you. I have even seen people used them in Chocolate Cakes and Brownies.

I prefer them pickled, although you can buy them in jars in your local grocery store, I prefer Homemade Pickled Beets – Today I’m going to show you how I make them.

Beetroot is one of the most perfect vegetables to pickle. You can stock up on Beetroot while they are in season, pickle them, and enjoy them for the rest of the year. I find it hard to think of anything that homemade pickled Beets does not go with although I can eat them on their own all day long – but that’s just me. You can decide which way you prefer to have them.

Let us know in the comments below which you is your favourite way of eating homemade pickled Beets.

Okay, let’s get cracking on making those Homemade Pickled Beets!

Preparation-1

Some people prefer to scrub their Beets before boiling them. I don’t as I am going to discard the water afterwards once the Beets are soft. Besides, you want to keep them with their peels on as they will leak out and have no colour when the have been cooked.

Preparation-2

Place the Beets into a large pot, cover them with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the Beets simmer for approximately 35 minutes while keeping them covered. I noticed the previous time when I was making my Homemade Pickled Beets that the temperature in the pot drops drastically if left uncovered. I didn’t notice that this was a problem until I tested and the Beets where still rock hard after 35 minutes.

After 35 minutes, take a fork and pierce the Beets, if you lift the fork out of the water with a beet still on it then let it go for a few more minutes. The Beet should slide off the fork when you lift it, then its ready.

Drain the Beets, and place the pot on the cooler side of the stove, wait until they are cool enough to handle.

Preparation-3

I found that the easiest way to peel Beets is to cut the root tip off as well as the leafy top off, flush to the Beetroot. The peel basically comes off by rubbing the beet, you could use a knife to scrape along the Beet where there might be pieces of skin that are still a bit stubborn. You will find that the peels come off quite easily.

Cut the Beets into ¼ inch, 6,35 mm think slices.

Preparation-4

There are ways shown on the internet in which you can place your Homemade Pickled Beets into jars and preserve them. Truth be told, I don’t preserve them in Jars as they never last that long. My wife and I love Beets and eat them with just about every meal so this is what I do.

I take a large plastic container that can seal tight. Place all of the slices of your Beets into the container.

Add about 6 or so whole Black Pepper Corns as well as two table spoons of sugar and 3 Bay Leaves into the container with the Beet slices.

Pour white vinegar until the Beets are covered. Close the lid tightly – this is the reason why you must have a container that seals tight.

Turn the container over a few times and give it a bit of a shake, basically stirring the lot.

Preparation-5

Place the container in the fridge and dish up from there whenever you would like some. The longer the Beets sit in this liquid the better but it can be eaten pretty much right away if you are not prepared to wait.

Enjoy!