can you freeze beets? and how do you pickle beets? Thanks a bunch?

Freezing Beets

Since beets are almost exclusively used in a cooked form, which means that losing the raw texture is less important, they do freeze fairly well. Here's how to freeze beets to store in your freezer at home.

Directions

Step 1 - Selecting the beets

The most important step! Select deep, uniformly-red, tender, young beets. You need beets that are FRESH and crisp. Limp, old beets will make nasty tasting canned beets. Guests will probably throw them at you.. Select firm, crisp beets. Remove and discard any soft, diseased, spotted and chewed up beets.

How many beets and where to get them

You can grow your own, pick your own, or buy them at the grocery store. About 7 pounds of 2- to 2½-inch diameter beets makes about 8 pints of beets.

Step 2 - Trim the ends and cut into smaller pieces

Just take a sharp knife and trim off beet tops, leaving an 1/2 to 1 inch of stem and roots to prevent bleeding of color.

Step 3 -Wash the beets!

I'm sure you can figure out how to scrub the beets in plain cold or lukewarm water using your hands or a vegetable brush. It's easier to wash them after you've cut off the tops.

Step 4 - Cook the beets

Put similar sized beets (hopefully, they're ALL of a similar size so they take the same time to cook) together with enough boiling water to cover them and cook until tender (usually for small beets 25 to 30 minutes; for medium beets 45 to 50 minutes, in an open pot, or 10 - 15 minutes in a pressure cooker). Drain and discard the liquid.

Step 5 - Cool the beets

You can pour ice over them, or just let them cool on their own. It's just to cool them enough so you can handle them to remove the skins, stems, roots and then slice or quarter them.

Step 6 - Trim, peel and slice

Trim off the roots and stems. The skins should easily slide off. Slice the beets into ¼-inch slices. You can leave the beets whole (if they are small, say 1 inch or less), or quarter them or slice them into ¼-inch slices.

Step 7 - Package, label and freeze

Package in ziploc freezer bags, or better, in a vacuum food saver bag. Label; e.g., "Beets" and the current date. Seal and freeze

Freezing Beets

Beets can be frozen, but they are one of those veggies that needs to be fully cooked first.

Here are a couple recipes from an old pickling book I have, they are for large amounts, so just cut down ingredients for smaller batches.

Beet pickles:

1 gallon beets

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cinnamon sticks

1 Tbsp. allspice

1 1/2 cups water

3 1/2 cups vinegar

Cook beets in boiling water just until tender. Let cool and peel, slice large beets into 1" thick slices.

Combine the rest of the ingredients and bring up to a simmer for 15 minutes. Pack beets into hot sterilized jars. Pour hot liquid over beets to cover, a little more vinegar can be added if needed. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes and seal.

Sweet pickled beets

10 lbs beets

4 cups vinegar

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp pickling spices.

Cook the beets as for the first recipe. Heat the rest of the ingredients to scalding and then add beets and heat until steaming hot (high simmer) Pack into hot sterilized jars and seal.

Grew up eating these guys every year, my retired Mom gave me the old book to keep the tradition going.

Don't have a pickled beets recipe but I do have a really easy recipe for beets:

Scrub your beets, trim ends, rub with olive oil and roast for about an hour or til tender. Cool, peel and slice or dice. Press a bunch of garlic cloves into your bowl of beets and pour a good amount of good extra virgin olive oil over your beets and garlic. Marinate for a few hours til chilled. Everyone knows how good garlic is for you and beets too-and olive oil. Serve these on top of your favorite salad.

Picled Beets

2 quarts white vinegar

2 cups brown sugar

1.2 tsp salt

1/4 cup whole mixed pickling spices

tied in a cheesecloth bag

Boil liquid 5 min then pour over cooked and peeled beets in

sterilized glass jars and seal.

I do not put them in a hot bath as long as the jars are hot and the liquid is very hot.

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RE:

can you freeze beets? and how do you pickle beets? Thanks a bunch?

the beets are fresh from the garden.