I have an unnatural love for beets. I wasn’t always this way, it happened after I turned 30. That was the first time that I tasted a homemade pickled beet, not out of a can. Wow, what a difference!
Lacto-fermentation brings an even more complex flavor to sweet beets, without added sweetener or vinegar. In the ‘olden days’, vinegar wasn’t necessarily used to keep beets. Beets were fermented in the same way as sauerkraut, with salt and water. In Sally Fallon’s recipe from Nourishing Traditions, whey is used as an inoculate to get the good bacteria started.
Tips for making fermented (a.k.a. pickled) beets:
- Cook beets in the oven unpeeled wrapped in foil when you are cooking something else anyway, such as a roast or meatloaf.
- Grow your own beets to make this recipe even more inexpensive. Sow in spring and fall. Beets will winter over in many areas if protected with mulch. They need non-rocky soil but are pretty easy otherwise. Pick a variety native to your area for best results.
- Cut beets in any shape that you like, circles, chunks, half moons, just make sure they are roughly the same thickness.
- When you’re done eating the beets, don’t throw out the beet juice! Use it in salad dressings, soup, or drink it like you would drink beet kvass, as a digestive tonic.
Pickled Beets
Rating: 1 fork (key)
Difficulty:
Easy
Page in NT: 98
Ingredients:
12 medium organic beets
seeds from 2 cardamom pods (optional)
4 Tablespoons whey
1 Tablespoon sea salt
filtered water
Preparation:
Prick beets in several places, place on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for about 3 hours (see note above for alternative cooking), or until soft. Peel and cut into a 1/4 inch julienne. Do not grate or cut the beets with a food processor – this releases too much juice and the fermentation process will proceed too quickly, so that it favors formation of alcohol rather than lactic acid.
Place beets in a quart-sized, wide mouth mason jar and press down lightly with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over beets, adding more water if necessary to cover the beets. The top of the beets should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.
Photo courtesy of phxpma on Flickr
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I have made these beets a few times and love them. I don’t julienne mine just cut them in bite sized pieces. I’m happy to say that even my teens like them (shocking). Speaking of beets, we enjoy the Russian Beet Salad from NT also. Yummy!
Yum, sounds good! Do you have to use the whey? Or can you substitute extra salt, or some other lacto-fermented liquid, like kombucha or something…?
This look similar to beet kvas. Can the beets from the kvas also be eaten like here.
Yum! I love pickled beets. Last fall I did a batch of beets with no extra seasoning but salt and started with raw, peeled and sliced beets. They turned out great! You don’t even need to roast them, that’s how easy beets are! I added some carrots to that batch and you could hardly tell them apart because the beets stained the carrots. I also want to add shredded beets to kraut one of these batches.
I REALLY like pickled beets. I haven’t had any in a while because the store bought ones have HFCS. I’m so glad to know I can make healthy ones at home!
Hi Olivia… I tried to eat my beet kvass beets, but since they are raw, they were pretty hard. Not very edible. Perhaps if they were cut very small they would ‘cook’ in the salt and whey though…
Hi Denise! You can use twice the salt if you don’t have whey available. This is a good rule for all lacto-fermented vegetable recipes (Sally Fallon mentions it in NT too)…
Those look so great! I just made the Ginger Carrots today and the beets are planned for very soon. I really love the idea of your blog!
thanks Ray! And congrats on making the ginger carrots. I am out of those and need to make more, they are so good in many things.
I love fermented beets, too, but the ginger carrots are the best for new recruits. Anytime you encounter someone that is reluctant to try fermented vegetables you should give them some ginger carrots to taste and they will be instant converts.
Hi I have tried the beets, how long after they are in the fridge on top shelf until they are ready to eat. I have the cucumbers going now. I wish I had a room that was 40 degrees but it is way to hot here so in the fride they go after 2-3 days. Can I try the beets and put them back in if they are not ready. Thanks Anne