I had never cooked fresh beets before last year, so I really didn’t realize what I was missing. It’s been a revelation. This recipe is sort of thrown together, so take it for what it’s worth.
Scrub beets well, try not to pierce them. I snap off the long root. Wrap tightly in foil and bake at 350 degrees for an hour for tennis-ball sized beets, maybe longer if you have extremely humongous beets like I did. I baked mine for 1-1/2 hours. Last year I put my foil-wrapped beats on one of my oven-safe dinner plates. It ruined the plate. This year I laid a piece of foil across a metal pie pan and then put the foil-wrapped beets in the pan. I was trying to protect my cookware and it worked. No problem. Let beets cool until they’re not too hot to touch. Peel the beets. It’s easy, the skins slide off. Slice one beet into about 1/2-inch slices, not thin. You probably won’t need more than one beet.
In the meantime, boil 4 eggs to hard-cooked. I put my eggs in cold water and bring to a boil, let boil 5 minutes, then let them sit in the water until it cools and I’m ready to use. I don’t think it matters how you do this. Peel the eggs.
Make a mixture of 2/3 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar) to 1/3 cup water and a sprinkle of salt. This mixture does not have to be precise. You may need more.
In a clean quart jar, pour a little vinegar mixture. Drop in a few beet slices. Drop in a boiled egg. Add vinegar mixture to cover. Drop in more beet slices, another egg, more vinegar mix . . . layer until you reach the top of the jar. Cover the jar with a lid.
Refrigerate for three days, you can shake the jar around a little bit every day or so. These pickles are so yummy. The eggs are quite beautiful when sliced. They taste great and so do the pickled beets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes. I like to see a tinge of golden brown across the top of mine. Eat right away or chill and eat later, reheated or not.
This recipe is found at
I start by rough chopping 4 cups of green tomatoes, a large sweet onion, and a large bell pepper.
Then I put the tomatoes, onion, and pepper into a food processor. I carefully pulse the processor until the vegetables are chopped small, but not pureed. It’s tricky and you have to be careful. I put the vegetables into a large bowl and stir in the salt. Let it sit for an hour and then drain through a fine strainer.
So, here’s how I did the hot water bath processing . . . I’ve got a massive 7-quart pressure cooker, but that thing is too much of a beast to can only 4 half-pint jars. Instead, I put my metal steamer basket in the bottom of my largest stock pot and filled the pot with water, nearly to the top. I brought the water to a boil while the relish was simmering. I also had my tea kettle over a flame for more hot water as needed. Once the water in the pot was at a full boil, and the relish had been put into the jars and sealed, I placed each jar carefully into the boiling water and and made sure they were covered with boiling water from the kettle. Once the water came back to a boil, I set the timer for ten minutes. The trick is the metal steamer basket. I’ve tried water bath canning without a rack in the bottom of the pot and ended up with broken jars and a big mess. My metal steamer basket allows the boiling water to bubble without rocking the jars. Different shape jars and sizes pots and steamer baskets would suggest that you make sure it will all fit as necessary before beginning the process. Please consult a canning expert if you have never done any home canning before. I am certainly not an expert.
Bring to a boil 3-1/2 cups water and 1-1/4 cups vinegar. I used cider vinegar. Add 1 Tbsp. canning salt. Remove from heat and let cool.
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