pickling beetroot and shallots

thifty

I have grown these on my allotment and wondered which is the best vinegar to use for pickling? I did one batch full yesterday of beetroot and it took 2 bottles of white wine vinegar and made a grand total of 2 jars! Not exactly:money: but I'm sure it will taste lovely.

Has anyone any tips? Am also dreading peeling all those shallots:D

grandmasam

Hi Thrifty,

Use spiced or pickling vinegar same thing, you can get it in most greengrocers shops, and i pay £2.50 for a gallon.
When i peel shallots i put them in a bowl of water and peel under water, [well, it works for me!!] Dont forget to add tspn sugar to each jar as this helps the flavour.
Enjoy!!
caz

RAS

Wine and cider vinegars can be expensive.

One reason people slice beetroot is that you get more root and less vinegar in a jar, so less cost.

A decent malt is better for pickled onions anyway. You can buy gallon or two gallon container - justy amke sure it is over 5 % proof. Try the big Asian supermarkets as they often have large containers.

With the exception of beetroot, remember to salt and drain any vegetables you pickle. This keeps them crunchy rather than letting them go soft.

kippers

I use Sarsons pickling vinegar which you can buy at supermarkets as we all love it. I have tried other ready spiced vinegar and we don't like it as much.

wssla00

Can anyone talk me through how to pickle beetroot? I have loads in the kitchen and would like to make it for presents Thank you

meritaten

for pickling beetroot, you really cannot beat a good malt! not the whisky but the bogstandard chipshop brown vinegar. and the cheap ones work just as well. if you like the sweet beetroot just add a teaspoon of sugar to the jar and when its capped shake it a bit to disperse the sugar! then keep a few weeks until its ready!
for the shallots I would use white vinegar, either the sarsons pickling vinegar or the spiced vinegar my grocers sell around now. comes in big gallon containers and last year i had about a quarter of it left after doing my eggs onions and some walnuts. this year that container now sits in my utility room and is used to give the washing machine a clean! oh adds a bit to the water when washing the car windscreen and those squashed bugs come straight off!

meritaten

wssla
this is how I do it
take your bunch of beetroot and wash it well under the tap to get off the loose dirt.
then cut off the green about two inches above the bulb. DO NOT cut off any long dangly root!
have a big pan of boiling water and plunge the beetroot straight in. then turn down the heat a bit until the water is still bubbling well but not going mad.
leave for about 40 minutes - top up the water with boiling water from the kettle if the water gets low (ie - the beetroot arent submerged)
now you can test with a sharp knife if they are cooked. (baby beetroot may only take about 30 minutes).
if the knife goes through the beetroot easily they are cooked, any resistance and leave them another ten minutes and try again.
when cooked I like to leave them in the cooking liquid to cool (have left them overnight and they havent come to any harm). when cool enough to handle then you can cut off the tops and bottoms and peel them. the skin should just rub off.
slice them about a quarter inch thick into the waiting sterilised jars. give them a bit of a shake to settle the contents and fill the jars up to just below the neck. then fill slowly with your vinegar. fill each jar and check that they are all well covered with the vinegar. add your sugar if using.
now, I like to put a square of cling film on before i screw the lids on as i tend to re-use jars and lids. dont forget to label the jars with content and date packed. this way you will know when you made it if you find any lurking in cupboards in future - and if giving as gifts - do the labels on computer, the date packed will tell the recipient its fresh and you could also add 'from my garden/allotment'.
hope this helps hun, happy pickling!

I forgot to tell you why you dont cut off the root or the tops completely and why you dont test with knife until they should be done! silly me! this is because beetroot 'bleeds' when cut and its thought that all the flavour will bleed out with it!

mrbadexample

Ah, well this appears to have answered a question for me. I pickled some white beetroot a couple of weeks ago, just using Sarson's white picking vinegar.

It's not very nice, simply because the vinegar is so acidic. I'm guessing that the addition of a teaspoon of sugar will improve things somewhat?

meritaten

I didnt like to say so - but white vinegar isnt the best for beetroot! it is very acidic and good pickled beetroot should taste sweet and sour! sounds strange but when you think about it beetroot as a cooked veg is very sweet tasting.
I would try adding some sugar if you have used white vinegar, it cant hurt! I should think it would improve things. by the way, mrbadexample, how do you know it doesnt taste nice if you only pickled the beetroot a couple of weeks ago? have you tried some? because it aint ready yet! I leave it for a minimum of six weeks before trying it. if you do open the jars to add sugar then I would top up with more vinegar as much as you can possibly get in before sealing with cling film and re-capping! and even then I am not sure that the beetroot would keep as long.

mrbadexample

meritaten wrote: »

I didnt like to say so - but white vinegar isnt the best for beetroot! it is very acidic and good pickled beetroot should taste sweet and sour! sounds strange but when you think about it beetroot as a cooked veg is very sweet tasting.
I would try adding some sugar if you have used white vinegar, it cant hurt! I should think it would improve things. by the way, mrbadexample, how do you know it doesnt taste nice if you only pickled the beetroot a couple of weeks ago? have you tried some? because it aint ready yet! I leave it for a minimum of six weeks before trying it. if you do open the jars to add sugar then I would top up with more vinegar as much as you can possibly get in before sealing with cling film and re-capping! and even then I am not sure that the beetroot would keep as long.

Well, I used white vinegar because it's white beetroot, and I didn't want it going brown. I asked all the relevant questions here (post #39 onwards), so if I've done it wrong it's probably Pink's fault. :whistle:

Well, you've asked for it now. Please provide me with complete step-by-step instructions for pickling white beetroot, as I've got lots left to pull.

meritaten

I was thinking hard about this and am wondering if a combination of white pickling vinegar and cider vinegar or wine vinegar would work. why dont you ask on the greenfingered site? if they grow it then they probably know how to cook/preserve it! I havent tried pickling white beetroot so really dont know what it tastes like.
there is another way to preserve beetroot though - ang on am just going to find the recipe but cannot remember which old book its in!)
brb