REC: Red Wine Pickled B**ts

Serendipity

They are a party in your mouth. Ask Wayne B. They ain't really mine - I've posted this before here, and here's a copy for your beety little heart, with notes: Edrena

Common Press Pickled Beets with Red Wine Makes about 7 pints "These have none of the harshness of typical pickled beets. Even people who usually scorn beets may like these." 6 lbs beets, with rootlets and 2 inches of tops 1 teaspoon whole cloves Two 4-inch cinnamon sticks, broken One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced thin 3 cups sugar 2 cups red wine I use cabernet sauvignon 3 cups red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon pickling salt 1. Scrub the beets. Put them into a large pot, and cover them with boiling water. Return the water to a boil, and boil the beets 15 to 35 minutes, depending on their size, until they are just tender. 2. Drain the beets, and cover them with cold water. When they are cool, trip them and slip off their skins. If they are large, halve or quarter them--or, if you prefer, slice all the beets into 1-4-inch-thick rounds. 3. Tie the cloves, cinnamon, and ginger in a spice bag or scrap of cheesecloth. Put the spice bag, sugar, wine, vinegar, and salt into a nonreactive pot. Bring the contents to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Simmer the syrup, uncovered, for 10 minutes. 4. While the syrup simmers, pack the beets into pint mason jars. If you've sliced the beets, pack the slices loosely. ! E. Pour the hot syrup over the beets, leaving 1-2 inch headspace. Close the jars with hot two-piece caps. 5. Process the jars for 30 minutes in a boiling water bath. Mind the albreastude adjustments-E. 6. Store the cooled jars in a cool, dry, dark place for at least 3 weeks before eating the beets. The part of the beet just under the greens is the part that can taste like dirt. If the beets are big, be ruthless about trimming this away. Then eat it, cook's treat! Note: I boiled the beets to tender stage and even after BWB for 40' at my albreastude, the slices still had nice texture, but I'd go maybe for a little tiny bit less initial boiling next time. Wayne Boatwright roasts his beets instead of boiling-E You can make these sugar free by using 1+ cups Splenda to taste and 1+ teaspoons salt to taste. Do the Splenda first with the wine, then the salt. This is a bit of a balancing act because while the Splenda is great, it's not sugar. Do the sugar if you can. My friend eats up the beets, then marinates hard boiled eggs in the liquid a few hours. Can reuse the liquid a coupla times. As usual, I think this dish is much improved by using top end good ingredients, using cheapo vinegar and wine, or old spices, are not saving anything I always make a few special jars, slice cooked beets, than cookie cutter shaped to stars & moons, etc. I make regular batch in chunks with an apple corer dealy, and keep all the circular pieces for special jars as above