Nana Nette's Blog

Preserving Beetroot . . .

We love beetroot with salads, cold meat and of course in our hamburgers!

My first job was to wash them, making sure that I left some stems attached at the top and bottom of each one. This stops the beetroot loosing its colour as it cooks. Place in a pot, cover with water and cook until tender. Wash and dry jars, then sterilise them in the oven at 100° C before you fill them.

When the beetroot is cooked, prepare the syrup as it needs to simmer for five minutes before you use it. While it simmers, peel and remove stems from beetroot while warm, wearing gloves so you don’t stain your hands. I put some baking paper on my board, this stops it getting stained and also allows me to pick it up and pour sliced beetroot into the pot of syrup. I slice my beetroot about half to one centimetre thick. Put into vinegar and bring back to the boil.

The preserving seals need to be soaked before use. I place them in a small bowl and pour boiling water over them before I start to fill the jars. Taking one jar at a time to keep the others hot, place in a bowl. This is necessary as we are using the overflow method and need to catch the liquid that runs down the side of the jar. I like to place a dishcloth in the bowl so that the hot jar doesn’t get placed on a cold plate. Kelly crocheted this lovely dusty pink one for me and I save it for this job as it doesn’t show the beetroot juice when I rinse it out. Fill the jar with sliced beetroot. I find a bottling funnel makes this very easy to do and ladle in some of the liquid so it goes to the very top of the jar. I use a bottling magnet to pick up a seal or you can use tongs and place on top of the jar, this will push some of the liquid down the sides of the jar. Quickly screw a band on as tightly as you can and place the jar onto a folded towel that you don’t mind getting stained with juice. Repeat for other jars. Keep the screw bands on the jars for 24 hours after they have sealed. Then remove and wash them as they will be sticky. Wash down the sides of the jar and store until required. If you don’t remove the bands they go rusty and are very hard to get off and can’t be used in the future. Enjoy.