Canning Bee #1: BEETS

As promised (or threatened, haha) here is the first installment of our Canning Bees. Mom has always canned. I have for a few years and my cousin, Sarah, is learning this year also. Mom decided to host Canning Bees this year (I didn't get the name until Dustin said that it must be like a Quilting Bee... but for canning :) I was thinking Spelling Bee and just didn't get the reference:))

I also discovered that I love beets recently. I thought I hated beets. For 25+years, I have been pointing and judging beets. And, I was wrong. I LOVE them. So, here are the results from our first Canning Bee.

BEETS

Trim off all but 1-2 inches of stem from beets. Leave all of the taproot. (This helps to keep the color in the beets as they cook).

Cook 15-25 minutes. Cook them until they are soft. The time depends on size and amount.

Once cooked, cut off the top and the root. Peel and slice.

We used an egg slicer to help make it MUCH easier and faster. 

Sarah, the hand model above hasn't had beets since the fall of 1994 due to an allergy to them... 

so, she got the job of slicing them up, haha.

Put beets in large pan with a solution of:
1 1/2 cup water
3 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups of sugar
1 spice bag  (1 tablespoon whole all spice in a coffee filter. Use thread to tie off.)

(This is for 1 recipe which is for 7 lbs of beets)

Bring to boil and simmer just below boiling for 15 minutes. Remove spice bag.

Pack beets into hot pint jars (Make jars hot by soaking in hot water or run them through dry cycle in dishwasher).

Cover beets with hot solution. Fill to 1/2 inch from top. Add lids and rims on jars.

(there are no pics for this section... Mom did this part after we went home and forgot :))

Put jars in pan, add water and cover jars by at least 1/2 inch. Bring water to rolling boil. Add lid, cook for 30 minutes.

Remove jars from water. This little tool is super handy.

Remove jars and let seal. Once cooked, rims can be removed.

**Side note- also make sure that you wear something that can get dirty. I borrowed a shirt from Mom and got juice on it. But, my homemade laundry soap cleaned it right up!

Coming soon-

• The best salsa you've ever had
• Green beans (or 'bean beans' as they are called in my family)
• Hot Tomato Juice
• Tomatoes 
• Marinara Sauce
• Veggie Soup (This will be towards the end of the canning season
• Hot Pickles 
• Mini Freezer Cobblers
• Freezer Corn
• And... who knows what else :)