Beets

We have dug our first beets. The rest will be dug in just a few days. I love pickled beets. My Mom would put up just a few jars every year. No one ate them but her and me. It was certainly a delight to see them out at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Lyn has had to figure the beet canning out on her own as we never found a recipe book when Mom passed away. I was lucky to marry a woman who loves to cook, that takes it very seriously, and just can't stand it if something doesn't taste just perfect. Lyn doesn't like them but experimented by putting up one jar at a time of slightly different changes till I thought it was perfect. She couldn't hardly stand to watch me do the taste test. I was sucking on them and slurping them around in my mouth, slowly chewing to get all the taste out of them. She just couldn't watch. She stayed with it till they taste just perfect, the way Mom's used to taste. We put boiled eggs in the extra juice to have beet juice pickled eggs. U-u-u-m-m-m, good. Yeah, I know what your thinking. Man, I'm a lucky guy.

I usually grow only one bed of beets and that puts up no more than ten quarts of beets. Detroit Reds have always done the best for me. Chiogga is one I will try next year in a small plot to test. I don't want to take up space from my main performers though.I tend to horde them to make sure they last all year and still have a couple of jars to give away to friends that like them.