Yes they will be soft. Still edible but with a soft texture. But the only other alternative is to freeze them.

1/3 seal failures is high. Any idea what caused it?

Dave

PS: an alternative would be to dump those 3 jars in a bigger container and pickle them for fridge storage.

Thanks Dave! I'm not sure about seal failure probably temp changes? I realized I had the temp too high so I tried to gradually lower it. I have a new stove I'm learning to use. I haven't had such a high failure rate before. I like the idea of pickling them! I think I will do that :)

How about beet pie? I've had it once and while it tasted 'different', it was good.

I prefer pickled beets over regular beets any day. My recipe is a mixture between my 2 grandmother's. While not listed as an approved recipe, I think it should be. 1 part cider vinegar to 1 part sugar. Dissolve sugar in vinegar, cut beets, put in jar, add enough vinegar/sugar mix to cover and WB. They really have a vinegar bite, but sweet also. Dave, how safe do you think it is?

There isn't a problem per se with pickling in 100% vinegar and sugar brine then canning. The issue is if you're preparing raw-pack rather than hot-pack, which is the current standard. A hot-pack processing time would not be adequate for a raw-pack product, especially beets which are quite dense.

Carol

I usually cook mine enough to skin them, then sometimes need to refrigerate til next day to pickle them. I process them for the raw pack time.

Glad to hear that my sugar/vinegar would be strong enough. I know I go thru enough of each during the year. I actually will make up the brine ahead of time, processing it, then I heat it up before filling the jars of beets. Definitely a time saver.

Carol's point when she references the "current standard" is that raw pack hasn't been approved now for some time. Only hot packing. No processing is given for raw packing except in older, out-dated books. If I recall correctly raw packing fro beets was removed from the guidelines in the 1982, maybe 86 revisions.

Same guidelines for both pickled and plain.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Canning Beets