Learning to Can Pickled Beets from Mom

A couple months ago my brother called and said that since Mom was not able to can her family tradition pickled beets that he would like for us to learn how to can them. I told him I would come to Arkansas when the beets were ready. We all gathered at my nephew's house on Saturday morning to learn how to can pickled beets! Thanks Blake and Becca for letting us use your house. This is a step-by-step beet canning lesson.

First, Mom told us to sort the beets by size so when they were in the pot they would cook uniformly. In the photo is Mom, our adopted sister Pat, my brother Wayne and my nephew Blake. All the red cups on the table are Blake's tree seed project.

My brother brought his turkey fryer to heat water in so we could put hot water on the beets and it would not take so long to cook them, if the water was hot to start them.

Wayne put the first batch of beets on the stove to cook.

Blake added more water, because Mom said they had to be covered and boil.

Wayne and Pat are setting up the clean jars to get ready for the canning.

Wayne is getting more instructions from Mom.

She said use equal parts of sugar, apple cider vinegar and water

in the pickling solution. Add pickling spice and bring the mixture to a boil.

When the beets are done the skins will slip off and then you cut the ends off.

This is the first round of beets getting processed at the sink.

I am pretty sure Blake and Becca are still wiping beet juice off stuff in their kitchen.

After the beets are peeled,

put the jar flats in a little bit of boiling water to soften the rubber seal.

Pour the pickling solution over the beets in the jar.

Carefully wipe the jar top with a wet rag,

 to remove any solution you might have got on it.

Fish the jar flat out of the hot water and place on top of the jar.

Screw the jar ring on the jar and hold the jar flat firmly in place for a good seal.



Wayne and Mom with the FIRST JAR!



Thank you Mom for teaching us how to can your pickled beets!

 

My brother decided there HAD TO BE a faster way to cook the beets.

He took the pan out and placed it directly on the turkey fryer base!

When the beets were cooked Wayne sprayed them with cold water.

We gathered around the wash tub and peeled the beets.

Put them in a big bowl and then into the house.

We were able to process them twice as fast!

In the fall when we do this again, we are using Mom's recipe

and Wayne's cooking method using additional turkey fryers!

Becca comes home from work to find us at her house.

24 quarts and 1 pint later we were done!

The best part of this day was getting to spend so much time with family.

 

Pansy's Pickled Beets

Equal parts of Sugar, Apple Cider Vinegar and Water

we started with 4 cups each

to that we added 1.8 ounces of pickling spice

which is a whole jar

Bring to a rolling boil and make sure it is stirred well.

 

Sort beets by size

Put in a pan covered with water and boil until skins slip off

keep turning the bottom beets up to the top of the pan.

Pour the water off the beets and peel cut off top and bottom

Place jar flats in small amount of boiling water to soften the rubber seal

Place  beets in canning jars.

Pour pickling solution in jar on top of beets

Wipe off the top of the jar with a wet rag

Place jar flat on top of jar and screw jar ring on jar

hold jar flat firmly in place while screwing on lid.