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You Can’t Beet A Root

September 27, 2010 @ 23:33 By Gavin Webber 4 Comments

On Saturday afternoon, I harvested the majority of our winter beetroot crop.  I planted two varieties this year of beta vulgaris,  Detroit Globe and Chioggia.  


Now Detroit globe looks like your standard dark purple beetroot, however the Chioggia is unusual and has red and white rings throughout the beet.  This is what it looks like;

Beetroot Chioggia – Diggers Club


Look kind of small, don’t they?  Well maybe not ordinarily, but when you compare these to one that I grew, the size of mine looks quite unusual.  Have a look at this!  I surprise myself sometimes.

What a beauty!

Anyway, all jokes aside, it was into the kitchen with my beetroot booty and time to cook them up, peel (with rubber gloves on), make up a pickling vinegar and bottle the whole lot ready for summer barbecues.  We just love our pickled beetroot.  I used this recipe which I really enjoy the taste of;

Pickled Beetroot

2kg beetroot
3/4 cup water
1 and a half cups white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
2 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon salt


1.  Wash beetroot thoroughly and cook in a pot of water until tender
2.  Cool and remove skins (use rubber gloves)
3.  Cut beetroot into slices
4.  Place all other ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil
5.  Simmer for 5 minutes and then strain
6.  Pack beetroot into hot sterilised jars and top up with vinegar mixture
7.  Seal and store in a cool place


Use within 6 months.



I managed to make up 7 large jars, 3 red, 4 white/pink, however I doubled the recipe and probably had about 4kg of beets at the beginning.  Click to enlarge.




I am hoping that the Chioggia tastes the same as normal beetroot when pickled, or otherwise the chooks are going to have a feast.  It did taste a little bit less earthy than the normal beetroot, so I suppose that is a good thing.  


I left some more of these two varieties in the bed for salad greens, as the leaves are edible, and taste very nice in a normal garden salad.  All in all, I will probably plant some more beetroot next Autumn.  A good crop all round.


One thing is for certain, and that is that you can’t beat a beetroot!

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Related

Filed Under: Preserving, vegetables

← To Seize The Day Cheers at the Co-op →

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Darren (Green Change) says

    September 28, 2010 at 09:46

    Nice one! We like to eat them steamed or baked as a vegetable, or grated in a salad or on a sandwich. The yellow ones are good for grating, since they don’t turn the rest of the salad red.

    Reply
  2. dixiebelle says

    September 28, 2010 at 19:23

    Sounds great, some professional looking preserves there Gavin!

    Reply
  3. Leanne daharja says

    September 29, 2010 at 10:12

    Yum!

    Oh, how I LOVE beetroot!

    Enjoy them, won’t you! I am sure the chooks will not see them at all!

    Reply
  4. theresa says

    May 18, 2014 at 11:24

    Hi Gavin, your beetroot looks amazing, all I seem to get is a lot of leaves, I know that is too much nitrogen in the soil, but can you please tell me what soil mix you use, I tried to find it on your site but no success.
    Can you please point me in the right direction.

    regards

    Theresa

    Reply

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An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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