Pickled Beets and Beet Jelly

Beets were an after thought with my garden this year.  I had given up on root vegetables because it always seemed that the moles would push them up and out as they made their tunnels each year in my garden.  But I was at Walmart and saw beet seeds for a $1 a package and said, what the heck, for a buck I will give it a try again.  

 

On Friday I went to my garden and knew it was time to pick the beets.  They had survived the moles and I was curious to see how much I would get.  I picked them all and after they were cleaned up and the tops taken off, I weighed them...  and there were 15lbs!  I was pretty happy! :)  

 

So I pulled out my recipe for pickled beets and got to work.   I cooked them up in my big canner pot because they would not fit in any other pot I had.  When they were done cooking (about 25 minutes) I drained them (saving the beet juice) and ran them under cold water while I cut off the ends, slipped off the peels, and sliced them into a bowl.  I made the brine and put the beets and 2 sliced onions in the brine.   

 

I heated it all up and canned up my beets.  I ended up with 12 pints. 

But I was not done with beets.. well I was for that day because it was nearly 11:00pm.. So I put my beet juice in the fridge.  On Sunday evening I was finally able to get around to making beet jelly with the leftover juice (you know I just don't like to throw usable things away! :).  Beet jelly is really more of a novelty than a necessary staple in the pantry.  It is easy to make and my kids enjoy it as a break for other types of jams and jellies that I make.  It is made with beet juice, sugar, pectin and package of raspberry kool-aide.  All I could find at the store was strawberry so I used that instead.  I have heard of people using cherry as well.  I saved enough beet juice to make 3 batches.  I ended up with 18- 1/2 pints of beet jelly.  

All in all I would say it was pretty good from one little package of seed!  I will be trying this again next year. 

Here are the recipes..

Pickled Beets
12 to 15lbs beets with tops on

8 cups apple cider vinegar

4 cups sugar

4 cups water

1/2 cup salt

4 cinnamon sticks

1 t whole cloves 

2 large onions, sliced

Wash, cook, peel and slice the beets.  If you leave the tops on the beets while they cook the color won't bleed out. To cook the beets, cover them in water, bring to a boil and let them cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until fork tender.

In a large pot (mine is a 14qt pot) combine the vinegar, sugar, water, and salt.  Tie the spices in a spice bag and put those in the brine.  Bring the brine to a boil. Add the cooked and sliced beets and the sliced onion to the brine.  Bring it back to a boil and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. 

Fill pint jars with beets and brine leaving a 1/2 inch head space. Put a brand new lid on the jar and a ring and tighten this down.  Put the jars in a boiling water bath canner and can for 30 minutes.  Should make about 12 pints

Beet Jelly

3 cups beet juice

4t lemon juice

1 box powdered pectin

4 cups sugar

1 small pkg raspberry Kool-aid

Begin by measuring your sugar and putting this in a bowl. Open the packet of Kool-aid and stir it into the sugar.  Then, in a 6qt pot combine beet juice, lemon juice and pectin. Bring this to a full boil. A full boil is one that cannot be stirred down.  After it has come to a boil then add your sugar.  Stir and bring back to a full boil again.  Boil and stir for 1 minute (check your package of pectin, if it says to cook it longer than a minute then you would need to. I use Sure Jel brand and it only takes 1 minute).  Quickly ladle the jelly into 1/2 pint jars.  Put a new lid on and a ring..  Put the jars in a boiling water bath canner and can for 5 minutes.  Makes 5 to 6 1/2 pints of jelly.