Pickled beets bring a delightful sweet-tart accent to winter and summer meals. In the days before reliable refrigeration, pickling and canning addressed summer garden surpluses, varied the monotony of winter meals, and let a homemaker show off her skills at grange and county fairs. Beets are a good source of Vitamin A and fiber. Pickling adds a little Vitamin C.
Beets for Pickling
Choose small, tender, fresh beets for pickling. Beets larger than 3 inches in diameter may have developed a woody texture, and the flavor may be dull. Both red and golden beets pickle well. Refrigerate beets until ready to use. Cook in salted water until just tender. Cool, peel, and cut in even slices. If beets are under 1/2 inch in diameter, leave them whole. When you buy pickled beets, you will notice that all the pieces in the jar are of similar size--that's so they pickle evenly.
Traditional Pickling
To make traditional pickles you can store on a shelf, you need some equipment: Mason-type canning jars and tops; canning kettle, rack and tongs; beets, onions, vinegar, sugar, and spices.
You also need a recipe and instructions on canning. Food safety is critical. Pickles prepared improperly can produce several kinds of unpleasant mold, and the lack acidity can permit development of toxic botulism. Recipes for pickled beets often warn you not to change the amount of vinegar specified. This is because vinegar provides the best defense against toxic organisms of all kinds. Making your own delicious pickled beets is lots of fun, but following directions is important.
Two Modern Alternatives
Use your refrigerator to make quick, tasty pickled beets. You can cook fresh beets till they are just tender or use canned beets for even quicker results. The very quickest pickle uses up a leftover: all that good juice left when you finish a jar of grocery-store bread-and-butter pickles! Save the juice and add a can of beets, drained. Refrigerate overnight, and your beets will be ready to eat. Leftover cooked beets or canned beets can also be marinated overnight in seasoned rice-wine vinegar, which has the perfect sweet-sour balance for refrigerator-pickling. Older cookbooks call this process icebox-pickling--there's nothing like a leftover to challenge creativity!
Traditional Serving Suggestions
Reach all the way back to pioneer times to make Red Flannel Hash--chopped corned beef, onions, and potatoes, sauteed in a little butter or oil. For the last couple of minutes of cooking, add some drained, chopped pickled beets and stir them in till just warm (putting the red in Red Flannel).
Adapt a company-dinner tradition that perfectly suits our healthier modern meals. Before the days of drinks-and-hors d'oeuvres, a Sunday dinner hostess set out a relish-tray--carrot and celery sticks, olives, and her best pickles--to occupy her guests while she got dinner on the table. Introduce your family to pickled beets as part of a relish tray to start a healthy family meal.
Ideas from Other Cuisines
Serve pickled beets as German cooks do, as an accompaniment to any kind of cold meat. This tasty pickle adds a spark to leftover chicken, turkey, pork or beef. You can include pickled beets on deli-night as well.
Make your salads "a la Russe" (that's menu-French for Russian-style). Beets appear in many Russian dishes, not just borscht. Drained, chopped pickled beets add a zing to potato salads of all kinds. Add a Russian flourish to peeled, hardboiled eggs by marinating them in pickled-beet juice for an hour or two. The zingy added flavor and pink-to-red color would make an economical Russian housewife proud!
Additional Ideas
The tart-sweet taste of pickled beets makes them a natural accompaniment to quietly-seasoned egg and cheese dishes--put out a dish of beets when you make macaroni-and-cheese or cheese strata.
Add drained, baby pickled beets to your next crudites platter.
Use pickled beets instead of tomatoes in winter green salads. Combine baby spinach, pickled beets, orange or tangerine sections and a little red onion. Pickled beets stand up well to the stronger tastes of gourmet greens like arugula and mesclun mixtures.
Use pickled beets instead of red peppers in some old Italian favorites. Layer slices of beet and mozzarella on a plate with a little olive oil and basil--add some crusty bread, and lunch is ready. Make pickled beets an addition to your next antipasto platter.
Make an easy brunch with cream cheese, smoked salmon, crusty rye bread and pickled beets.
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