Pickled Beets – Easy Refrigerator Recipe with Garlic and Herbs

Step-by-step recipe

1. Pickled beets stain other vegetables heavily, so they are rarely prepared together with anything else. The marinade has to contain enough acid to keep the finished product from spoiling in storage. Because the roots are so firm, even young beets have to be boiled before pickling. The boiling time depends on how hard and how old the roots are.
   
2. By early summer young beets are already big enough and are perfect for pickling. They may need only 25-30 mins of boiling, which is quite enough. In autumn, when the vegetables are firmer and more fibrous, boil them for at least 45 mins, and be sure to test them with a knife. Wash the roots thoroughly and scrub off any remaining soil with a scourer. Try not to damage the skin, and do not cut off the tail or the base of the leaves.
   
3. Put the beets in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil and cook the roots over low heat until done. Then let the beets cool to room temperature in the cooking liquid. You can pour the liquid off or save it for a cold beet soup – just put it in the fridge. By the way, pickled beets make an excellent ingredient for cold beet soup too. The boiled beets are now completely ready for pickling.
   
4. While the vegetables are cooling, prepare the jars and lids and cook the marinade. Pour half a cup of wine vinegar, white or red, into a small saucepan. Add 1 tbsp of sugar and 0.5 tsp of salt. Drop in the unpeeled garlic cloves, 2-3 small dried chili pods, a few allspice berries and 8-10 black peppercorns. Cloves are optional – 1-2 buds will be enough. Add 2-3 bay leaves as well. Put the herbs into the marinade, stems and all.
   
5. Peel the cooled beets and cut them into slices 8-10 mm thick. If you can, use a crinkle cutter – this kind of cut increases the surface of the slices in contact with the marinade. You can also cut the beets into thick strips or batons. Put the sliced beets in a bowl and set aside for now.
   
6. Bring the marinade to a boil and simmer for 2-3 mins. Lay the herbs on the bottom of the prepared jar. Arrange a third of the sliced beets on top of the herbs, then add some of the garlic from the marinade, a bay leaf and chili. Add more beets, then more of the vegetables and spices from the marinade. All the solids from the marinade should end up in the jar. You can pack the beets quite tightly, right up to the top of the jar.
   
7. When everything is packed into the jar, bring the marinade to a boil once more and pour it over the beets right up to the neck of the jar. Close the jar with a lid straight away – a screw-top lid is the most convenient, as it makes it easier to take out as much as you need, and the pickled beets will not spoil.
   
8. Turn the jar upside down for a few minutes to check that it is sealed properly. Then let the jar cool and put it in the fridge. The beets will be ready in 3-5 days, and after that you can start tasting them. Importantly, to help them keep, take the slices out of the jar with a clean fork and close the lid right away.
   
9. The beet slices can be served as an appetizer in their own right or used as an ingredient in other dishes. Try not to pickle non-varietal beets – the pale ones, or those with clearly visible rings on the cut – as the preserve will not look very appealing. You can also pickle small young beets, which turn out very well left whole. I read somewhere that adding grated horseradish to the marinade makes the flavour simply superb. For long-term storage the jars can be sterilized in boiling water – give it a try.