How to can your own homemade canned pickled beets (complete directions with photos ) (2024)

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How to can your own homemade canned pickled beets (complete directions with photos )

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You think making and canning your own pickled beets is difficult or expensive?Not at all! You can do it with basic equipment already in your kitchen -you just need a canning pot. And thanks to the vinegar in pickled beets,you can use either a plain open water bath pot or a Pressure Canner (which willalso let you can low acid vegetables!)

So, here's how to can pickled beets! The directions are completewith instructions in easy steps and completely illustrated. In the winter whenyou open a jar, the pickled beets will taste MUCH better than any store-boughtcanned pickled beets! For those of you looking to can "Harvard beets" (whichare, essentially, pickled beets with cornstarch added to thicken the liquid),just make these pickled beets, then when you are ready server, heat them and adda little cornstarch. Cornstarch is not recommended for using in canning recipesdue to its effect on heat transfer, so it is better to add it at serving time!

Prepared this way, the jars have a shelf life of about 12 months, and asidefrom storing in a cool, dark place, require no special attention.

Directions for Making Canned Pickled Beets

Ingredients

• 7 to 8 lbs of Beets(see step 1)
• 4 cups vinegar (5% acidity)
• 11/2 teaspoons canning or pickling salt
• 2 cups sugar - You can make them without sugar using Stevia / Truvia or Splenda, see thatrecipe here.
• 2 cups water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 12 whole cloves - about 1 tsp
• 12 allspice nuts (whole) - about 1 tsp
• 4 to 6 onions (approximately 2 to 21/2-inch in diameter) (optional)

Equipment

• Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)
• Jar funnel ($4 at mall kitchen stores and local "big box" stores,but it's usually cheaper online from our affiliates)

• At least 1 large pot
• Large spoons and ladles,
• Canning jars (often called Ball jars, Mason jars or Kerr jars) (Publix, Kroger, other grocery stores and some "big box"stores carry them - about $7 per dozen pint jars including the lids andrings)
• 1 Water Bath Canner OR a Pressure Canner (alarge pressure pot with a lifting rack to sanitize the jars afterfilling about $75 to $200 at mall kitchen stores and "big box" stores,but it is cheaper online; see this page for more about pressure canners).

Recipe and Directions

Step 1 - Selecting the beets

Themost important step! You need beets that are FRESH and crisp.Limp, old beets will make nasty tasting canned beets. Guests willprobably throw them at you.. Select firm, crisp beets. Remove anddiscard any soft, diseased, spotted and chewed up beets.

How manybeets and where to get them

You can grow your own, pick your own, or buy them at the grocery store.About 7 pounds of 2- to 21/2-inch diameter beets makes about 8 pints ofpickled beets. I wouldn't use canned beets; what's the point: Mostof the flavor is gone from them, and you can always get fresh beets.

Step 2 - Prepare the jars and canner

Washthe jars and lids

This is a good time to get the jars ready! The dishwasher is fine forthe jars; especially if it has a "sanitize" cycle. Otherwise put the jarsin boiling water for 10 minutes. I just put the lids in a small pot ofalmost boiling water for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand"(available from target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores;and available online - see this page) to pull them out.

Get the canner heating up

Rinse out your canner, put the rack in the bottom, and fill itwith hot tap water. (Of course, follow the instruction that came withthe canner, if they are different). Put it on the stove over low heatjust to get it heating up for later on.

Step 3 - Trim the ends and cut into smaller pieces

Just take a sharp knife and trim off beet tops, leaving an inch of stemand roots to prevent bleeding of color.

Step 4 -Wash the beets!

I'msure you can figure out how to scrub the beets in plain cold or lukewarmwater using your hands or a vegetable brush.

Step 5 - Cook the beets

Putsimilar sized beets (hopefully, they're ALL of a similar size so they takethe same time to cook) together with enough boiling water to cover themand cook until tender (usually about 30 to 45 minutes in an open pot, or10 - 15 minutes in a pressure cooker).

Drain and discard the liquid (itwould weaken the pickling solution).

Step 6 - Cool the beets

Youcan pour ice over them, or just let them cool on their own. It'sjust to cool them enough so you can handle them to remove the skins,stems, roots and then slice or quarter them.

Step 7 - Trim, peel and slice

Trimoff the roots and stems. The skins should easily slide off. Slice thebeets into 1/4-inch slices. You can leave the beets whole (if they aresmall, say 1 inch or less), or quarter them or slice them into 1/4-inchslices. This is to help more fit in the jars and to help theseasoning to penetrate them better.

Step 8 - (Optional) Slice the onions.

If you like onions in the mix (most people do), peel and thinly slice theonions.

Step 9 - Make the Pickling Solution

Combinethe vinegar, salt, sugar (or Stevia (in a prepared form like Truvia, it measures same as sugar; if you use another form, you will need do your own conversion) - or Splenda, if you prefer, if you need a no-sugar version) and fresh water in a large pot.Put the spices in cheeseclothbag and add to vinegar mixture. Bring to a boil.

Here's a great trick for the spices: get a baby food holder like this one,available at Target and any baby supplies store. It is made ofplastic, and can hold the spices for easy removal later. It'sreusable and has no metal, so it won't react with the vinegar!

Step10 - Heat the mixture with the beets and onions

Add beets and onions to the pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove thespice bag.

Step 11 - Packing the beets in the canning jars

Thisis called "hot packing"! Fill the jars with beets and onions, leaving1/2-inch headspace. Pack the jars fairly tightly, but be sure to leave1/2-inch of space at the TOP of the jar. That is called "headspace"and is needed for expansion during heating in the water bath.

Step 12 - Pour boiling cooking liquid into each packed jar

Use a ladle or Pyrex measuring cup to carefully fill each packed jarwith the hot vinegar solution, again allowing 1/2-inch headspace.The beets should be covered and there should still be 1/2 inch ofairspace left in the top of each jar. Be careful not to burn yourself,(or anyone else - children should be kept back during this step!)

Step 13 - Put the lids and rings on

Put the lids on each jar and seal them by putting a ring on andscrewing it down snugly (but not with all your might, just "snug").

Step 14 - Put the jars in the canner and the lid on the canner

Usingthe jar tongs, put the jars on the rack in the canner. Make surethe tops of the jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water.

Step 15- Process for 30 minutes*

The chart below will help you determine the right processing time andpressure, if you have a different type of canner, or are above sea level. For most people, using a plain open water bath canner, the time will be 30to 35 minutes. You can use either a plain water bath canner OR apressure canner, since the vinegar adds so much acidity (if you canvegetables other than tomatoes without adding vinegar, you must use apressure canner).

Step 16 - Remove the jars

Liftthe jars out of the water and let them cool on a wooden cutting board ora towel, without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place(usually takes overnight), here they won't be bumped. You can thenremove the rings if you like, but if you leave them on, at least loosenthem quite a bit, so they don't rust in place due to trapped moisture.

Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifyingthat the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently,with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound),it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, youcan still use it.

Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar,if you do it with 24 hours. You heat the contents back up, re-jar them(with a new lid) and the full time in the canner. You're done!

Other Equipment:

From left to right:

1. Jar lifting tongsto pick up hot jars
2. Lid lifter - to remove lids from the potof boilingwater (sterilizing )
3. Lids- disposable - you may onlyuse them once
4. Ring- holds the lids on the jar until after the jars cool - then you remove them, save them and reuse them
5. Canning Jar funnel - to fill the jars