Here's the canning version:

Pickled Beets
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Makes about 6 pint (500ml) jars

3 tablespoons pickling spice
2-1/2 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
10 cups prepared beets

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. Tie pickling spice in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag.
3. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar and spice bag. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and boil gently for 15 minutes, until spices have infused the liquid. Discard spice bag. Add beets and return mixture to a boil.
4. Using a slotted spoon, ladle beets into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover beets, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 30 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Variations

Sweet Pickled Beets: Substitute 10 whole cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks (each about 4 inches), broken, for the pickling spice.
Caraway Beets: Substitute 2 tbsp caraway seeds and 2 tsp whole black peppercorns for the pickling spice.
Pickled Beets and Onions: Add 3 cups sliced onions to the vinegar, water, sugar and spice solution. Cook as directed above, discard spice bag and add 8 cups prepared beets, then proceed as directed above.

Here's the one I use for refrigerated pickled beets:

Pickled Beets
From The Good Housekeeping Cookbook, 1944 edition.

2 cups cooked or canned beets, drained (save the juice)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves, powdered
1/2 cut clove garlic
6 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup water (I use the juice from the beets)

Slice the beets and place in a bowl. In another bowl, measure mustard, sugar, salt, cloves and garlic. Add vinegar and water (or beet juice) gradually while stirring. When the mixture is smooth, pour over the beets. Put in the refrigerator to chill; then remove the garlic, and serve with meat or fish. (I put the beets into quart jars and make a double batch of liquid to cover - and I leave the garlic in there. Store in the refrigerator.)

And here is the recipe from NCHFP. It is the one we use.

Dave

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

I've used a sweet pickle mix from Mrs. Wages. I parboil the beets, cool, and peel. Always leave most of the root and about a half inch of the greens left on when cooking, as it reduces the bleeding losses. After being peeled, I place in jars and pour in the sweet brine mix. For ping pong size beets, they are left whole, for larger ones, I slice at 1/4 inch thick. I also add a few sliced onions to the sliced beets.

The second recipe is very low in acid and can be unsafe to can, unless its pressure canned.

Also, there are many threads when you do a search for the key words 'pickled beets', as shown below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Picle beet threads

Sorry, ksrogers, that I wasn't clear that my second recipe was for REFRIGERATED pickled beets, and that the directions should have read "Store in the refrigerator. THIS IS A COOKING RECIPE, NOT A CANNING RECIPE."

Got it!

many Ty for the recipes i will check them all out and see which one i can use but a question i see that theres 1 or 2 cups of sugar do you need all that sugar and its it for the canning to make it safe ??? does it sweet what is the sugar for and do you need all that much of it ???

ty agion

It is the vinegar that is necessary for canning the pickled beets. You can cut down on the sugar. As long as you have at least half 5% acidity vinegar to water ratio you will be fine. You can mix that, taste, and then add sugar to taste. Add any dry spices, too.
I don't use spices in mine. Just sugar, vinegar,and water.Two cups of each. Process 30 min. in the BWB.
This year I want to make some sugar free ones with Splenda.

so i would be ok with 1/2 cup of suger instead of the 1 cup it says in malnas first recipe i am a novice at canning so bear with me

ty agion

Yes, a half cup is fine. If you want to use something like Splenda, and the recipe called for two cups of sugar, you would only need a 1/4 - 1/3 cup of Splenda. Splenda seems to intensify its sweetness when it is mixed with acidic vinegar. If you use cup for cup of Splenda instead of sugar, its way too much, and is nasty tasting. About the only recipes that are fussy about sugar amounts are jellies and jams that use regular pectin.

I really like the Spicy Pickled Beet Brine in the new Ball Canning Book.
Made 8 pints so far and I know it will not be nearly enough for a year, already used 2 pints for pickled eggs.
I have the brine in a quart jar in refrigerator to add eggs or will throw in some beets when I get them skinned tonight.
You may omit the onions

Would you mind posting the Spicy Pickled beets recipe? My book doesn't have that one.

Thanks!

Okie Dokie, when I get home.

The spices used are usually celery seed and mustard seeds, and a bit of dill. You could also also add clove, allspice, and a bit of coriander if you prefer. Starting with a Mrs. Wages sweet pickle mix, and adding more spices gives a nice strong taste. I also use cider vinegar for the beets.

Have any of you made pickled beets that aren't so dang sweet? I like plain canned beets, but most pickled beets I've tried (albeit not many, and just commercially available ones) have been far too sweet for me. I don't care for sweet pickles and haven't much of a sweet tooth in general. I know they would tend to be at least somewhat sweet due to all the natural sugar, but do they have to be cloyingly so? I'm hoping for a "naturally sweet" pickled flavor, rather than "sugared", if that makes sense?

As mentioned many people dislike, or cant eat sugar. If you follow a recipe for the exact amounts and find it to be too sweet, salty, or too spicy, its always a good idea to TASTE the mixture before its put in jars. You can adjust the amount of sugar, including omitting it entirely to suit your taste preferences, and it will still be safe to can, provided the acidity is not diluted.

Thanks Ken - tasting first is a good habit to get into, I think. I'm working on it. :-)

I was aware that the sugar was for flavor only so I wasn't concerned about safety. I just wondered if anyone had already worked out a less-sweet recipe they wouldn't mind sharing- I prefer not to reinvent the wheel if I don't have to. :-D

I read that you prefer using cider vinegar for beets - I am thinking that cider vinegar, being less harsh-tasting than white vinegar, would be a natural in a less-sugary brine.

Robin I assume you know you can do just plain canned beets - they don't have to be pickled?

But yes you can reduce or even eliminate the sugar in the pickled beets recipe - personally we don't like it as it is too vinegary even with cider. But to each his own taste buds! Our old buds are sugar acclimated I guess. ;)

Dave

Cider vineger or lime juice in salsa are also a good combination. Recipes are usually fairly flexible when it comes to the flavorings. You just don't want to change the amounts the major components like the low acid solids, peppers, onions, beets, etc., and not have enough acidity. To can without any acidic pickling, you would have to pressure can them. Most of the time, I would only refer to a recipe to see what things are called for. If clove was not a favorite, I would leave it out. If I like onions in my pickled beets, I slice them up and add with the beet slices.

Thanks for the info that the sugar is not necessary for the safety of this recipe (for some reason, I thought it was).

Today, I pulled the last of my beets, so I may try canning pickled beets with a LOT less sugar than the recipe calls for :-)

Sorry for the wait, had issues getting online last night.

Spicy Pickled Beets
Yield: about 4 pints

4 Pounds beets 1 or 1 1/2 inch
3 Cups thinly sliced onions
2 Cups Sugar ( I use 1 lb white and 1 lb raw sugar)
3 Sticks Cinnamon, broken
1 Tbp Mustard Seed
1 tsp Whole Allspice
1 tsp Whole Cloves
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 Cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 Cups water

Wash and drain beets. Leave 2 inches of stem and the tap root. Put beets in a large saucepot. Cover with boiling water and cook till tender. Drain, remove peel, trim ends. Combine remaing ingedients in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Reduse heat and simmer for 5 mintues. Add beets and cook untill hot throughout. Remove cinnamon sticks. Pack hot beets in hot jars, ladle the hot liquid over the beets leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2 piece ligs. Process 30 minutes in a boiling water canner.

I know you wanted refrig, but eaiser just to post the entire recipe for those who process. You may omit the processing time and refrigerate. I am unawre of the refrigerator shelf life. Gees I just make 2 dozen pickled eggs over the weekend. Last night the neighbor gave another 2 dozen eggs for this weekend (god I hope they are older/hench no peeling nightmares)

Does anyone have a recipe for Gingered Pickled Beets. A friend of mine Dad use to make these and they were great. I would love to make them if I could find the recipe.

Found one!

Here is a link that might be useful: Gingered Pickled Beets

Holly, thanks for the link, they sound great. I wonder if these could be canned and how you would go about it?

ty all for the recipes and links i hope to try them in a few days time

I don't know if that particular recipe would be safe for canning, Gardener1908.

I would stick to the recipes that Dave gave links to, just to be on the safe side.

My recipe for beets is almost identical to busylizzy's. It is so good. I just put up 30 jars this week.

Yup Susy, everyone who tries the one I make loves it. I think using the raw sugar makes it less sweet tasting as well. I substitute raw sugar or 1/2 and 1/2 many times in recipes. I decided that I will go ahead and pickle all of the 1/2 bushel I have left. Leave the pressure canner out for the Yukon gold taters

My favorite recipe, is plain and simple, comes from a book called "Food that Really Schmecks" by Edna Staebler.

Boil beets until tender, plunge them into cold water, slip off the skins. If different sized beets are used I cut them into equal sized chunks.

Mix the following and bring to a boil.

1 1/2 cups vinegar
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add the beets to the boiled syrup, heat til warm through out, but don't boil them! Drop into sterlized jars, pour syrup over them, cover and process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
Although after reading this thread and the recipe on the NCHFP website I might change the processing time to 30 minutes.

As an option I like to add one nice thick slice of onion to the bottom of the jar before I put the beets in. We always fight over the onion!

Jenny P

Thanks so much for the Spicy Pickled Beets recipe - I'll try that one first, using raw sugar (which I already have). I think I'll add the sugar gradually, to taste. :-)

Oh, and Dave - yes, I did know that beets don't have to be pickled and plan to can up a bunch of plain ones, too. But thanks for mentioning it, because someone else may not know that.

This forum rocks!

REMEMBER: The vinegar adds the acidity for water bath canning, making the low acid vegetable, beets, safe to can and eat. If you are making plain beets without using vinegar/lemon juice 5 % acidity added, then you must pressure cook.