For what seems like forever my weekly to-do list has included ‘make some pickles’. It’s something I always plan to do on a rainy day but then get caught up making more essential things like home-made chicken stock.
So this week I committed to making at least one new pickle. I chose the following beetroot recipe because I’d cut it out of a magazine a few weeks earlier and it had been stuck to the fridge with a magnet door ever since.
Beetroot is high in fibre (3g per 100g), contains no fat and packs an antioxidant punch. So, although fresh beetroot is renowned for staining your hands, the work involved in cooking and peeling the bulbs is really worth it. This pickle can be used as a relish with meat or simply served with cheese and crackers.
Ingredients (makes around 500ml of pickle)
- 500g of fresh beetroot, stems and leaves removed
- 1/2 cup (125ml) apple cider vinegar (ideally organic)
- 1/2 (125ml) cup water
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp whole cloves
- Optional – natural sweetener such as stevia or xylitol to taste
Of course you can replace the natural sweetener with brown sugar. According to the original recipe you’d be looking to add around 80g of brown sugar for the quantity of beetroot above. But given that beetroot has a naturally sweet taste I’d suggest trying it with a natural sweetener or with no sugar.
Steps to prepare
- Wash and trim the beetroot bulbs and then wrap each bulb in foil ensuring the foil is completely sealed.
- Put the bulbs on a baking tray and roast for up to one hour at 200C, or until the beetroot is cooked enough to be easily pierced.
- While the beetroot is cooling combine all of the other ingredients in a saucepan over a high heat. Once boiling set aside and cover.
- Once the beetroot has cooled, pop on some disposable gloves if you’re keen to avoid hand staining, and peel the skin from the beetroot.
- Chop the beetroot into small chunks and add to a sterilised glass jar.
- Once the pan mixture has cooled pour it over the beetroot to cover and then store the jar in the fridge for a week before using.
Step 3 – combine everything except the beetroot in a saucepan & bring to boil
Steps 5 & 6 – add the beetroot chunks to a jar and pour over the cooled pan mixture
Tips
- You could easily mix up the spices – cumin seeds would make a good alternative to the whole cloves.
- If your hands do stain then rub them with some lemon juice – I’ve read this can help to remove the colour.
By Laura (Feast Wisely)
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I’m very fond of making homemade stocks/dips/jams/cream. They are in their purest form. I too tried making Peanut Dipping Sauce, check out my lastest post 🙂
Thanks I will, peanut dipping sauce sounds delicious!
Peanut dipping sauce definitely tastes awesome. You can go through my blog if you want to check the recipe out. I loved the blog’s name, “Feast Wisely”.
Oooh – this came up in my feed. Bookmarked!
Thanks – let me know how it goes, my first batch lasted for ages – so good!
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I omitted sweeteners and we loved it. I also put in a few peeled hard boiled eggs to make refrigerator pickled eggs. So glad to find a good sugar free recipe for pickled beets. Thanks!
Good to hear you liked the recipe and great idea about adding eggs too!
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If you use reasonable size beetroot they take a lot longer to roast than you suggest. I prefer to boil them for an hour, as our beetroot are usually quite big. I tried your way but they were still hard after 2 hours!
Hi Christine thanks for the feedback – the bulbs I used must have been relatively small – if big I’d normally chop in half and then cook for an hour – good tip on boiling I may try that next time too!