These Two Hands

I love pickled beets. Actually I love all beets all ways, but I really love pickled beets. I couldn’t say why, other than we ate them a lot growing up; I’m not generally a fan of pickles. But beets are so firm and so tender, and their color – when processed – is truly magnificent.*

I didn’t grow many beets this year because I seem to be the only one that will eat them. But I saw these at the farmer’s stand and added them to my pile because hey, a couple of pints of pickled beets is all I really need.

Simmer them for 20-40 minutes. Cool. Peel, chop, ladle into hot sterile jars. Meanwhile, simmer 2 1/2 cups white vinegar with 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 3 tbsp pickling spice for 15 minutes. Strain (or just use a cheesecloth spice bag to begin with) and fill the jars with the pickling liquid, tighten fresh lids, process for 30 minutes. That’s it!

I am drooling. Just for these, I might have to break my rule about not eating canned stuff when fresh is in season. And I am certainly starting to think that “just a couple pints” isn’t going to cut it. Nuh-uh. More! I need more!

In the mean time, I took all the tops and tails and boiled them down separately. Voila, food-safe dye!

Good for tinting strawberry-jam-ice-cream pinker, or for dyeing play-doh, or for freezing and using for ice cube paintings.

Josh be warned: I’ve planted two packet’s worth of beet seeds for the Fall. Bwah ha ha!

* Gross color caveat: beet’s color really is magnificent, but eat too much of them and all the magnificent will come out in your pee and scare you half to death the next morning.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Crafts, food, homesteading, frugality&(free)cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.