I think most beet-lovers would agree that beets are at their best when they are pickled. Naturally I picked up seeds to plant beets in our garden. I’ve always heard that beets grow well here, and remember one green-thumb inspiration from my past advising of his success with beets. I knew that I was signing up for learning how to pickle and to can all at once by buying those seeds. The beet tops grew large and then the crimson bulbs began to swell out of the dirt. I knew the time was drawing near, so I put out a request for canning goods on freecycle. A very generous offer of jars, lids, and a huge steaming pot sent me driving across town in preparation of the big day.

And so one day in August we picked beets! It was a great day. I knew I would have to focus on working peacefully and patiently so the little ones would feel included and would not become overstressed by my pre-occupation with this involved project. I will never forget those four little hands in that tub of water scrubbing beets out on the deck. If I had done that when I was little I don’t think I would have forgotten it either! But, then again, I love beets!

They tasted wonderful, but the experience would provide lessons for next time. After boiling the beets, mine lost their deep color and were only faintly pink. I later learned that that not all beets are that deep red that you generally see. Whew! But, as I packed too many beets into not enough liquid, and they rested and saturated a bit in the jars, we had some concern that the beets on top were not fully submerged in liquid and this concerned us about their exposure to the air. So we’ve had to eat them right away instead of waiting until winter, but it would have been really hard to wait anyway!

Here’s a link to the instructions/recipe I used!