Canning beets
Canning beets

Easy Guide to Canning Beets Without a Pressure Cooker: Step-by-Step Instructions

Easy Guide to Canning Beets Without a Pressure Cooker: Step-by-Step Instructions

Canning beets

Canning beets brings out their flavor and makes them more nutrient dense and durable. This method makes canning more accessible by enabling home canners to preserve beets without the requirement for a pressure canner. The use of water bath canners, or just a big stockpot with a wire rack, is a simple and economical way to preserve fresh beets and provide a sweet twist to a vegetable that is sometimes met with conflicting reactions. Here’s a detailed article on pickling beets at home!

What you require

Canning Equipment:

  • 8 pintsize jars with canning lids and rings
  • Metal rack with handles that fits stockpot
  • Large stockpot with lid
  • Large saucepans
  • Cheesecloth
  • Kitchen towels
  • Metal cooling racks (optional)
  • Chopstick or similar tool
  • Jar grabber
  • Ladle
  • Slotted spoon
  • Canning funnel (optional)

Ingredients:

  • 7 lbs beets
  • 4 cups 5% acidity vinegar (white or filtered apple cider)
  • 1 ½ tsp canning or pickling salt
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 12 whole cloves
  • 4 to 6 onions, same size as beets (optional)

Kitchen Tools:

  • Knife

A large covered stockpot and a metal rack are included in the list above; these can be used in place of a water bath canner. Feel free to swap out the stockpot and rack for your already-existing water bath canner.
Rainwater that has been cleansed and collected in rain barrels can also be used for this procedure.

How to can beets without a pressure cooker

1.Sterilize Your Jars

Make sure the jars and lids are free of chips and cracks and have been adequately sterilized. Metal canning lids need to be new, although jars and canning rings can be reused. Always use new metal canning lids or reusable glass canning lids to ensure a perfect seal for your canned beets. Metal lids should not be reused since they will not seal correctly after processing.

2. Prepare Your Beets

Choose young, little beets with a diameter of no more than ½ inch. Older, larger beets tend to lose their softness during processing, making them unsuitable for water bath canning. To avoid color bleed, trim the beets’ tops and roots, leaving approximately an inch on each end. If required, carefully wash the beets and arrange them according to size.

3. Cook and slice the beets

Bring a big stockpot or saucepan of water to a boil over the heat. Put in the same-sized beets in the pot, making sure they are completely submerged if needed with additional water. After lowering the heat to a simmer, cook the beets for thirty to forty-five minutes, or until they are soft. After all the beets are cooked, repeat this process; once done, drain and discard the liquid.
Once they are cold enough to handle, let the beets cool. Slice or quarter the beets into ¼-inch pieces after removing the skins, stems, and roots. Peel and cut thin slices of onions, if using.

4. Make the Brine

Add the vinegar, sugar, salt, and water to a saucepan. For pickled beets, both white vinegar and filtered apple cider vinegar work well, but the flavor of the apple cider vinegar is superior. Add the cloves and cinnamon sticks to the vinegar mixture after wrapping them in cheesecloth. After bringing the mixture to a boil, simmer for five minutes while adding the chopped onions and beets.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the spice-filled cheesecloth from the saucepan once the beets are cooked and set it aside.

5. Fill the Jars

Pack the onions and beets into your sanitized jars, leaving ½ inch of headspace, using a slotted spoon. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the beets using a ladle or canning funnel if you have them, making sure to leave the same ½ inch of headspace at the top of the jar.
Before sealing, carefully drag a chopstick up and down the inside of the jar to get rid of any bubbles. After using a fresh, moist cloth to clean the jar’s rim, put the lid on top and tighten the canning ring.

6. Start the boiling water bath

Pour water into a large stockpot and heat it until it simmers. Carefully drop the wire rack with handles that holds the jarred beets into the water. Make sure there is at least an inch of water above the jar lids and that the jars are fully immersed. Making sure the jars don’t rattle or jiggle, cover the saucepan and gradually raise the heat until the water reaches a slow rolling boil.

7. Process the canned beets

Give the jars at least thirty minutes to process in the hot water. Because of the shift in air pressure, the precise processing time may take longer for you depending on your elevation above sea level.

8. Cool and Store

Once the canned beets are processed, take the pot off of the burner and leave it for five minutes. Cover a table or countertop with fresh towels or cooling racks while the pot cools.
Carefully remove each jar using a jar lifter, then set it aside to cool for 12 to 24 hours on the prepared surface. During this period, avoid tightening the rings. After the jars have cooled completely, take out the canning rings and make sure the lids are tight. Examining whether there is a small indentation on the lid is an easy method to confirm a good seal. For up to a year, if the jar is kept tightly shut, it can be kept in a dark, cool spot.

  • Write the canning date and the contents of your jars on the labels. You can eat older food before it goes bad if you do this.

Conclusion

A colorful and delicious accent to any cupboard are canned beets. A pressure canner is not necessary for home canners; pickling brings out the flavor and accessibility of jams.
Pickling and canning are two great options if you’re looking for ways to enjoy beets. You may also like canning apples or peppers using a similar process.

 

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