I think of pickled beets as being very Canadian. I moved to the States when I was 9 years old, and I can remember being REALLY excited about eating home-made pickled beets when we came back to Canada to visit family. In my family, if you are having guests or extended family for dinner you put out some of your home-made pickled beets. Speaking of which, when I told my mother that I was making pickled beets she asked me if I was making grandma’s recipe with the cinnamon. Hold up! I don’t have that recipe. If one of you family members out there has that recipe, please give it to me!
This pickled beet recipe is from Susan Mendelson’s cookbook Mama Never Cooked Like This, which my Aunty Mona gave to me when I was in college. Susan Mendelson has a very famous catering company in Vancouver called the Lazy Gourmet. As a child I was given her cookbook for kids, Let Me Into The Kitchen, which taught me how to bake THE BEST banana bread. Her recipes are simple and excellent.
This pickled beet recipe is easy to do in an apartment kitchen and single batch will yield enough jewel like pickled beets to brighten your plate through the holiday season! I love that the beets are boiled whole and then slipped out of their skins and sliced. Preparing them this way helps the beets to retain all of the good vitamins from their skins. Also, it is a big time saver as peeling beets takes longer than popping them out of their cooked skins. I also love that this recipe uses honey. Beets are naturally nice and sugary!
SWEET AND SOUR HONEY PICKLED BEETS
- 2 pounds beets, scrubbed
- 1 and 1/2 cups wine vinegar
- 3/4 cups honey
- 2 onions, sliced
- 2 Tablespoons dry mustard
- 2 tsp celery salt
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Chop the greens off of the beets and reserved them for another purpose.
- Cook the beets in boiling water until they are tender (25 to 30 minutes). Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Slip the beets out of their skins and slice them.
- Bring the vinegar, honey, onion, dry mustard, celery salt and salt to a boil
- Arrange the beets and onions in layers in sterilized canning jars.
- Add 1 cup of the reserved beet liquid to the pickling liquid and pour it over the beets leaving at least 1/2 inch of head space at the top of each jar.
- Seal the jars and process them for 30 minutes in a hot water bath. If you plan to eat all of your beets within a couple of weeks you can skip the water bath and keep them in the fridge.
- Store in a cool, dry place. Most pickles need a couple of weeks to form, but these ones are delicious within 24 hours!
For more into about home pickling you can go to these excellent websites…
National Center for Home Food Preservation
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To do the beets the way Grandma did you would leave out the onion, dry mustard, and celery salt. Mom used sugar but I am sure the honey would be fine. The seasoning was whole clove and cinnamon. I think some powder cinnamon and a piece of cinnamon stick. Wilbert didn’t like beet pickles spicy like that so I made them plain with just water sugar and vinigar. I may have Moms old recipie but I couldn’t put my hand on it quickly. If I come across it I will post it. Betty probably has it.
You know, when I gave you the Momma Didn’t Cook Like This, I missed it. I bought another copy at a garage sale. I still use it.
Yes! The beet pickles of my childhood had cinnamon! Must phone Betty, she is not online. Thanks, Mona. Of course if one wants beet pickles on Maui, one must make them!