Pickled beets: the recipe and safe canning

Pickled beets are the jar you pull out to go with a ham, a tourtière or a shepherd's pie, and the one that makes everyone a little nostalgic. They are also one of the vegetable preserves you can make without a pressure canner. Health Canada explains it simply: very acidic foods, such as pickles, can be processed in boiling water, while most vegetables, which are low in acid, require a pressure canner. So the vinegar does all the work, as long as you use enough of it.

Here we follow the tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) at the University of Georgia, adapted from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guide to home canning. To choose and store your beets before pickling them, see our guide to fall root vegetables. And if you enjoyed our safe green tomato ketchup, you already know the method.

Why we follow the recipe to the letter

Botulism, a serious form of poisoning, can come from improperly canned food. According to Health Canada, the bacteria responsible grow in moist, oxygen-free conditions, and the toxin changes neither the colour, the smell nor the taste of food: you cannot detect it. That is why Health Canada asks you to use only current, tested recipes, without changing the jar size or the ingredient amounts, and never to change processing times. When in doubt, throw it out.

In practice, for this recipe:

• use a vinegar with 5% acidity, cider or white vinegar, and do not reduce the amount;
• keep the proportions of vinegar, water and sugar. The cups in the American recipe are converted here to Canadian metric measures (1 cup = 250 ml), which keeps exactly the same ratio between vinegar, water and sugar;
• for a sugar-free version, do not take the sugar out of this recipe: make the NCHFP no-sugar-added version instead, tested with more vinegar and water and an optional sweetener;
• cook the beets in water, then drain them and discard the cooking water, as the NCHFP requires;
• use jars made for canning and new lids. Health Canada asks you never to reuse old lids, even if they look fine.

Have very small beets? The NCHFP lets you can beets 2.5 to 4 cm (1 to 1½ in.) in diameter whole, without slicing them, with the same procedure and the same times. Onions are optional either way. To reuse your jars from one season to the next, see our guide to reusing glass jars safely.

Boiling water processing, no improvising

The NCHFP describes every step. Set the rack at the bottom of the canner and preheat the water to about 82°C (180°F), since the jars will be filled hot. Lower the jars in upright with a jar lifter. The water must cover the lids by at least 2.5 cm (1 in.), and by 5 cm (2 in.) if processing lasts more than 30 minutes. Cover the canner, bring it to a vigorous boil, and only then does the timer start. If the boil stops along the way, bring the water back to a full boil and start the whole time over.

The time depends on altitude, because water boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations. For 500 ml or 1 litre jars, the NCHFP gives 30 minutes up to 305 m (1,000 ft), 35 minutes from 306 to 915 m (1,001 to 3,000 ft), 40 minutes from 916 to 1,830 m (3,001 to 6,000 ft) and 45 minutes above that. Check your town's altitude if you live in the hills.

At the end, turn off the heat, remove the canner lid and wait 5 minutes before taking the jars out. Set them on a towel, at least 2.5 cm (1 in.) apart, away from drafts, and let them cool for 12 to 24 hours without touching them. Do not retighten the bands or press on the lids until they are completely cool.

Checking, storing and knowing when to throw out

Once the jars have cooled, remove the bands and check each lid, as the NCHFP recommends: it should not spring back when you press the centre, it should ring clearly when you tap it with a spoon, and it should look slightly concave when you view it at eye level. A jar that did not seal can be reprocessed within 24 hours with a new lid, or refrigerated and eaten within the next few days.

Then wash the sealed jars, without the bands, and label and date them. Store them in a clean, cool, dark, dry place, ideally between 10 and 21°C (50 and 70°F) according to the NCHFP, away from hot pipes, the furnace and sunlight, and never above 35°C (95°F). For best quality, eat them within a year, Health Canada and the NCHFP recommend. Once a jar is opened, put it in the refrigerator.

Throw out any jar whose lid is bulging or loose, that leaks, whose liquid spurts out when opened, that smells bad or shows mould: Health Canada asks you to discard canned foods that are damaged, leaking or bulging, and the NCHFP reminds you never to taste the contents of a jar that is unsealed or shows signs of spoilage. When in doubt, throw it out.

Sources

• Pickled Beets, National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia, adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2015.
• No Sugar Added Pickled Beets, National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia.
• Using Boiling Water Canners, National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia.
• Cooling Jars and Testing Jar Seals, National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia.
• Storing Home Canned Foods, National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia.
• Home canning safety, Health Canada, 2024.