I'm just pickled pink!

Home grown and beautifully rough around the edges!

After my sucessful foray into jaming I thought I'd give pickling beetroot a wirl.  We have lot of it in the garden and apart from picking it I've tryed roasting it with garlic and basil, eating it raw (grated) in salad, boiling it and serving it cold with sliced red onions and making it into mini soufflés. And i'm yet to try the 'Red Velvet' cake recipe that i got for my birthday.

Here's the recipie for the spiced pickling vinegar:-
1.5l cider vinegar (could'nt find malt)
2 cloves garlic
1 whole bruised ginger
3 bay leaves
25g chopped shallots
50g black pepper corns
25g mixed spices
salt

It's very easy, just boil the vinegar  with all the other ingredients (put the spices in a muslin bag or coffee filter) for 15mins, strain, let it go cold and pour over cold, cooked beets in sterilised jars.  Leave to 'pickle' for 3 - 4 weeks before eating.

Homegrow/made, you just can't BEET it!

Still on the subject of all things pink, I've just finished off jaming the rest of the redcurrents.  This time I did it the old fashioned way i.e putting the hot berries through a muslin cloth and burning my fingers squeezing the jus out!  Not only do I now have 4 more pots of jam I also have a pink tinted drying up cloth. Bonus!