Pickled Beets

Ah beets, I'm not sure when I started loving them. As a child I hated them, but then something clicked and I realized just how wonderful they were. I have been having wild desires for pickled beets the past few months but refused to buy them pre-done in a can (that's another post entirely I'm afraid). Troubles with any pickling recipe I was finding though was they all made a ridiculously huge amount. An amount that would last my family the next 60 years. An amount that started with 10 pounds of beets! So I had enough... I improvised my own recipe scaling it down for a reasonable 2 pounds of beets and they are wonderful!!

Pickled Beets
2 pounds beets
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp white vinegar
Small handful of whole cloves

Place beets in a large pot and cover with water. Boil until fork tender and remove from pot, reserve the beet water and allow everything to cool. Once the beets are cool enough to handle peel and cut into slices or cubes.
Fill sterilized jars with beets (I used 3 regular sized jars) and add several whole cloves to each jar (4-6 depending on your clove love).
In a large sauce pan add 1/3 cup reserved beet water, sugar, salt and vinegar and bring to a rapid boil. Pour the brine over the beets and seal the jars.
Place a rack (or tea towel) on the bottom of a large pot and fill halfway with water and bring the water to a boil. Carefully add the jars to the pot of water, adding more water if necessary to cover the jars completely (leave plenty of space between the jars). Bring the water to a full boil, cover and let the jars boil for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the jars from the pot and allow to cool!

Done and done!