Pickled Beetroot Recipe
by Stephanie Cutmore
I love this recipe that a friend of the family shared with us and it’s an easy one to follow. I have found if you do decide to grow a vegetable garden, you allways have an abundance at one time and learning new ways to store it is very helpful. The flavour is incomparable to the shop bought tinned beetroots – plus one of my kids loves pickled beetroots so that’s a win in my book!
The Recipe
This recipe will make a large container of pickled beetroot that you keep stored in the fridge and use as needed. Start tasting after about a week to let the flavours really permeate the beetroot. Any varieties of beetroot work well. You can split the large containers into smaller ones as required, making sure you make enough of the brine that it covers the beetroot. You can also halve the recipe to make a smaller batch.
Ingredients
- 8-10 large beetroot
- 1½ cups of water
- 3 cups of apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves – fresh or dried
- 6 cloves
- 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
- 1 cinnamon sticks
- ½ teaspoon of sea salt
- 1½ cups of sugar
Method
- Wash the beetroot thoroughly and cut off the leaves, leaving 1cm of the stem still attached. Place in a large pot on the stove and add water to cover the beetroot. Cook until you can push a fork into them but they are still firm.
- Remove from the stove, drain then leave the beetroots to cool down. Gently remove the skins using your hands or a knife. I would recommend wearing gloves as the beetroot will stain your hands.
- Cut the beetroot into slices or julienne strips.
- Make the brine by placing all the other Ingredients into a separate saucepan then bring to the boil.
- Simmer the brine for 5 minutes then strain.
- Pack the sliced beetroot into a large, hot, sterilised container and pour over the brine making sure it completely covers the beetroot. If you need to, you can top up with extra apple cider vinegar.
- Secure the container with a lid and store in the fridge – it keeps well for a few months.