deee-licious beets & updates!

i just wanna eat a good beet
i just wanna, i just wanna
i just wanna eat a good beet

these are quick, easy and deee-licious!

and best of all, they'll be taking pride of place at the danish christmas lunch i'm hosting next saturday. you see, i didn't take the time to can beets this season, so i've been scrambling because most of the recipes i know advise a wait of 3-6 weeks before sampling the beets.

but these beets reach pickled perfection in a mere 7-10 hours, and last in the fridge for a full month.

which is good, 'cause when you need a beat, you need a beat...

deee-licious beets

adapted from martha stewart magazine

1 & 1/2 to 2 pounds beets (i used half red and half chioggia) roasted
1 & 1/4 cups dry white wine
1 & 1/4 cups white wine vinegar
1 & 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup sugar (i use raw)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
4-6 fresh or dried bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or cracked black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon dill seed
1 & 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 quart jars (or equivalent)

yields: 2 quarts

1. wash beets, wrap in tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a fork slides easily through.

2. let cool, slide skins off and slice in 1/4" thick slices. place in jars. if you are using two different types of beets, separate types into jars. (if you mix them, they will all turn the color of the darkest beet.

3. place wine, vinegar, water, salt and sugar in medium saucepan. heat on medium high while stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. bring to the boil.

4. while vinegar mixture is heating, mix spices together in bowl. divide evenly over beets in jars.



5. once vinegar mixture comes to the boil, pour directly over beets leaving 1/4 inch head room. leave tops off jars and let cool completely.

6. when cool slide a chopstick or handle end of a stainless fork or spoon around inside rim of jar to release air bubbles. put cap on jar and place in fridge. let stand for 7-10 hours before eating.

-updates-

before we get to the can jam update let me just say right here that the kraut is fermenting very nicely my dears! i tasted it after one week at the suggestion of tara in the comment section and basically, christmas lunch, smunch, M and i could have eaten it all in one go. it was that good.

but i decided to go a little further with it, as it's ultimate destiny is to be placed on little danish brown bread sandwiches. i'm thinking a slightly softer bite is in order. so we'll do another taste test this weekend

ok...can jam!!! if you don't know then click it!



73, yes i said 73 participants so far (did we say trend people?!) and counting 10 more sign up days left! tell all your friends - let's make it a cool 100 ;)

i'm so excited - i can't wait to get into details! here's a tidbit...

i've started a flickr group - initially so the non-blogging participants can show us their stuff if they are so inclined. of course blogging participants are welcome to share photos there too. to join go to flickr and search for the group tigress' can jam. send a request to join, make it clear you are a participant and i'll click 'accept'. the flickr group is only open to tigress' can jam participants.