Pickled or plain?

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_04/beets.html NCHFP How to Can Beets

Here is a link that might be useful: Beets recipes

Looks like I will have enough for plain and fancy, lol.
Already thinned for beet greens in salads 2 full quart bags and the plot is growing like grass.

I was looking for something using, perhaps: Cider or red wine vinegar and brown sugar with spices for the pickled.

What exactly do you understand by Harvard beets? I have not heard of that name over here except for a recipe I have in one cook book which involves serving hot cooked beets (beetroot to us) in a sauce made from a flour roux thinned with vinegar and with a little sugar added. Is that an authentic recipe?

Yes, they are in a sauce flora.
I am looking for some recipes

I have often canned beets. I really like them with onions. I usually use white vinegar and white sugar, but I don't see why you can't use any type of vinegar with brown sugar.

6 cups vinegar
3 cups water
6 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons Mustard Seeds
1 Tablespoon Tumeric
1 1/2 Tablespoon Celery Seed

This is sufficient for a very large bowl of beets and onions

Bring it all to a boil and then pack in sterilized jars and process.

For Pickled Beets I use the following, which is a variation of a recipe from Joy of Pickling:

For 7 pounds of beets trimmed and cooked just-tender make a syrup of

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons canning and pickling salt
4 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
1 teaspoon whole cloves
2 teaspoons whole allspice
2 cinnamon sticks about 4 inches long, broken
1 teaspoon blade mace

I posted a recipe for Orange Pickled Beets some time back in an earlier thread of Brokenbar's carrot recipes. You can see that recipe at the link.

Carol

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

Harvard Beets, for us down here, means plain cooked sliced beets served in a thickened sauce. That sauce is usually made using cornstarch so, since you can't can with thickeners such as cornstarch, you couldn't make them and can them as such - assuming that is what you are referring to.

1 jar of beets, sliced (save liquid)
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c. vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar white or brown

Drain beets but save the liquid. Add enough water to beet juice to make 2/3 cup liquid. Combine cornstarch, salt and pepper in saucepan. Add liquid and vinegar. Stir until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil 1 minute, stirring. Add sliced beets and sugar, heat thoroughly.

But you can can them plain in beet juice and then simply add the cornstarch prior to serving.

Dave

I like Harvard Beets too and have never canned them that way because of the flour roux. Could we use ClearJel, do you think for the thickener, because it's safe for canning? It would be same principle as pie filling only with beets instead of fruit. It isn't terribly difficult to make the sauce after opening the jar, but instant food is always wonderful.

Now, we are talkin! lol.
Copied and printed the pickled recipes.
The Orange looks wonderful, Carol.

One of these days I must go thru the house library and book cases to seperate for seasonal use.A sister of a Nun friend of mine retired recently from her job at the library of congress for decades. I think she took it as I tease when I asked her to help me catalog for dinner bartering! I was not kidding

Yes, I know I can process the beets plain and finish off prior to serving. But, as gran mentioned prepared products are wonderful time saver. Especially for me, working 10+ hours a day at a job, single Mom,blah blah
I was thinking along the same lines as gran for processing.
Maybe call the local home economist or email my niche food processing plant friend about the Clear Gel for this application.

be sure to let us know the results.

Lizzy - just wondering if you got a reply to using the Clear Jel? Its use as a thickener has been discussed here in the past - some wanted to use it to thicken salsa's and soups - and we were told then that it is not approved as it has the same problems associated with all other thickeners.

Just curious if you got some different info.

Personally, I wouldn't use it.

Dave

I'm interested in hearing too, though I'm betting the answer will be No because it hasn't been tested that way and there's no conversion formula or rule-of-thumb I know of for adding ClearJel.

Though it's unsuitable for canning, I really like Instant ClearJel, which makes it very easy to thicken things like this outside the jar.

Carol

I thought clear jel was the only thinkener to use when canning!!! What happened? When did it change.
Joann

I just did a search to see what happened to the clear jel and came upon an Illinois Extension article just from this Sept 4th 2008 recommending clear jel as the only thickener to use.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clear jel recommendation

ghoghunter - That is for pie fillings and such - high acid fruit products. Yes, it is approved for such use in some recipes.

However, using it as a thickener in low acid foods such as the beets in question here or in salsas and other similar products, it has never been approved AFAIK - no thickeners are. Drastic change in density screws with the recommended processing times.

dave

Please read more carefully. I said INSTANT ClearJel is unsuitable for canning, which is true.

In other words, there's more than one kind of ClearJel.

The only ClearJel approved for canning is Regular ClearJel, which requires cooking. But being approved for canning in tested recipes does not mean it can be inserted into other recipes that do not allow for its use.

Carol

We generally grow golden beets, but the taste and techniques are the same. One of my favorite ways is to scrub them carefully, dice, and microwave for a few minutes until mostly cooked, then fried in butter.

That can be boosted with a honey / chipotle sauce. Heat, smoke, and sweet.

Or, if you have enough, cut them in half, sprinkle salt, and roast them in butter until one side is caramelized. Serve along side roast pork or some other meat that can deal with something sweet.

For the greens, the less fuss the better, IMO.

No word back yet.
In these days of email and voicemail I have to be constantly after people!
Going to email my niche canning friend and see what developement says.
Our extension office is lacking a home economist, I have to go to the neighboring county.

In canning harvard beets we always used tapioca flour (not the beads) because cornstarch does not hold up in canning. You could also use a small amount of pectin but I do not have a recipe for that. I will try to find the pectin harvard beet recipe and post it here.

DL

Apparently we can't seem to repeat this often enough. NO thickeners are allowed in canning low acid products. That includes tapioca, tapioca flour, etc. Thickeners insulate botulism spores from the heat so that even PC can't kill them.

As Carol said above, "being approved for canning in tested [and high acid] recipes does not mean it can be inserted into other recipes that do not allow for its use."

I am confident that is the decision that Lizzy will get, if they ever get back to her, but we will see.

Meanwhile, can the beets and thicken just before serving. It takes no additional time as it can easily be done as the beets are heating normally.

Dave

digdirt,

Thanks for the info. I did not know this as we always used tapioca flour AND vinegar for canning harvard beets. I will have to take this recipe out of my stash. Did not know there was a chance of contamination. Most of my pressure canning is done in a commercial plant at our local cannery.

Would you know if commercial canning equipment makes this safe?? I have asked but the ladies who run the machines at the cannery will not say - it is a legal thing I believe.

Thanks,
DL

It isn't a matter of contamination. It's an issue of insufficient processing time due to increased density. Since the food has been tested without the additional thickening we can't possibly know what the appropriate time would be for the thickened product. There's no formula for extrapolating a time.

I worked in a cannery (the lab) throughout college. The problem is there we were working with industrial retorts, sugar by the boxcar, lab testing for brix, etc. I couldn't even begin to assess how you would adapt commercial results for home processing.

I can also say on more than one occasion whole batches of product (including low-risk high-acid fruits) were discarded because there were doubts about the integrity of the process. In my experience, commercial processors are far less tolerant than many home canners.

Carol