Pickling Beetroot

One of the things that Kate has discovered whilst staying here has been my pickles, particularly beetroot and red cabbage.

I pickle them both myself to my own simple recipe and usually keep a jar in the fridge to eat with salads, meats or cheeses.

As we had run out of pickled beetroot, Kate asked if I would make some more, so, on our visit to the local market this morning I bought some beetroot.

This dragged the first stunned exclamation from Kate when she discovered that  the beetroot being sold on the vegetable stalls of the market had all been boiled.  We searched the market but could not find a single trader selling raw beetroot, all that was for sale was previously boiled.

I bought two good sized round beetroot, selected a couple of jars of about the right size and after preparing the jars set about pickling the beetroot.

All I do is boil a mixture of vinegars with some pickling spices and a little sugar and then pour the boiling vinegar onto the beetroot before sealing the jars.  If I don't have a mixture of vinegars then a strong vinegar mixed about 50/50 with water will do.

If pickling spices are not available in your area then I use whole peppercorns, as many varieties as I can easily get, a few small chillies, coriander seeds, mustard seeds and a bay leaf or two.    I make up the pickling spice and then use about a teaspoon in a litre (US Quart) of vinegar.

Don't forget to let the jars cool before storing.   I keep the sealed jars in my preserves cupboard but opened ones in the fridge.

Oh, it's ready to eat after about 24 hours but improves over the first few weeks.