Pickled beets (NCHFP)

This is the National Center for Home Food Preservation pickled beets process, adapted from USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, AIB 539 (revised 2015), not a house sweet pickle ¹. Acid is the 5 percent Vinegar in the tested proportions. Do not thin the vinegar with extra water. See Pickling and Food safety. This is not pressure-canned plain beets.

1. Trim tops, leaving 1 inch of stem and roots so color does not bleed. Wash. Sort by size. Cover similar sizes with boiling water and cook until tender (about 25 to 30 minutes). Drain and discard that liquid ¹.
2. Cool. Trim roots and stems; slip skins. Slice ¼-inch thick. Peel and thinly slice onions if using ¹.
3. Combine vinegar, salt, sugar, and fresh water. Put spices in a cheesecloth bag; add to the vinegar mixture; bring to a boil. Add beets and onions; simmer 5 minutes. Remove the spice bag ¹.
4. Fill jars with beets and onions, ½-inch headspace. Add hot vinegar solution, ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process ¹.

Variation on that page: whole baby beets 1 to 1½ inches diameter, packed whole, not sliced; onions may be omitted ¹.

Process from Table 1 on the NCHFP pickled beets page. Hot pack, pints or quarts, 0–1,000 ft: 30 minutes — and the rest of that table for altitude. Do not copy the whole table from memory ¹. Canning owns the jar; Canning altitude owns elevation.