Earlier this month I purchased a half bushel basket of red beets and a half bushel basket of golden beets at our local Farmer’s Market. We eat beets at least twice a month, so it was a great way to stock up and to preserve them for later use. Plus, they were on sale for 50% off the normal price! Yeah!
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I’ve been home canning our red beets for the past 30 years and always follow the recipe from my Ball Blue Book. It’s your classic recipe and canning them is pretty easy, but a tad time consuming. With that said, they’re 100% better than store bought! You’ll need to preserve them in your pressure canner (not a water bath canner). I personally own and use the T-Fal Pressure Cooker Canner and love it. The recipe will make approximately 6 pint jars or 3 quart jars.
Home Canning Red Beets with Recipe
6 to 10 lbs. Red Beets
Salt
Water
Prep: Wash beets under cold running water; drain. Trim stems and tap roots to 2″ in length.
Cook: Boil beats in a large saucepan until skins slip off. (this process takes me about 20 minutes for medium to large sized beets). Cut off stems and tap roots. Slice, dice, or leave small beets whole.
Fill: Pack hot beets into a hot jar, leaving a 1″ headspace. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a pint jar, 1 teaspoon of salt to a quart jar, if desired. Ladle hot cooking liquid or boiling water over beets, leaving 1″ headspace. Remove air bubbles. Clean jar rims. Center lid on jar and adjust band until its fingertip-tight. Place jar on rack in pressure canner containing 2″ of simmering water. Repeat until all jars are filled.
Process: Place lid on canner and turn to locked position. Adjust heat to medium-high. Vent steam for 10 minutes. Put weighted gauge on vent, bring pressure to 10 pounds (psi). Process pint jars for 30 minutes or quart jars for 35 minutes. Turn off heat, cool canner to zero pressure. After 5 minutes remove lid. Let jars cool 10 minutes. Remove jars from canner. Let cool to room temperature. Label and store jars.
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Although I recently found a Home Canning books at a sale I still have not started canning. I think I would b more likely to start with one of your delicious recipes.
These look beautiful and I bet they are super good. I did some canning with my mother when I was little but I have never tried it on my own before. To be honest and don’t laugh but …. the pressure cooker scares me.
The jars look so pretty with all the red beets inside. I do like beets.
This sounds like its pretty easy to do! I have never tried canning my own things but my fiance’s grandparents do it all the time
Home canning is a lot easier than people think & realize. Plus, after your initial investment into the equipment and jars they help you to save money and you’ll eat healthier. Bonus, saves time in the kitchen too!