When our CSA farm Greenhorn Acres, which works in conjunction with Arkansas Valley Organic Growers, sent out a list of larger quantities of produce suitable for canning, I got a little excited. As I’ve mentioned before on the site — last year it was “peaches and peach jam* http://www.localdish.net/posts/millions_of_peaches)”: http://www.localdish.net/posts/millions_of_peaches — I like to can fresh produce. So we sat down to look at the list.

I want to do jam, yes, either cherry or peach. I think I’ll tackle that in the next few weeks.. I’ve always wanted to can tomatoes at the height of the summer. But there was one thing on the husband’s mind: beets. Namely, pickled beets, which he begs for every year. I looked at the list and thought, huh, 12 bunches of beets to pickle and can sounds about right. Sign me on up.

I will let you guess what happened next.

Twelve bunches of beets is… a lot of beets. I mean, a lot, a whole box full, a heavy box. And I started to get scared.

My little recipe for pickled beets, the one I’ve used in the past? As I washed and sort the beets, I calculated that I was going to have to multiply the recipe by 13. Lucky number 13.

But now that I had a counter full of beets on the Saturday morning of a holiday weekend, well, I was kind of committed, don’t you think? So let the beet processing commence!

First of all, let’s go over some basic canning procedure.

• You need: jars, lids (caps and rings), a canner/canning pot, tongs/jar lifter, a jar funnel, lots of towels. Optional equipment: magnetic wand to scoop lids out of boiling water, jar tightener.
• Heat the water: I say this first because the huge canner holds a lot of water and takes a long time to heat up.
• Sterilizing jars: Some people run the jars through the dishwasher, and some just use the hot water bath. I do both. As for the hot water bath, once your canner water is boiling, put the jars and lids inside, return to a boil for 10 minutes, and turn off the heat. Let them soak in the hot water until you’re ready to fill them.
• Making the seal: Once your filling is ready, pour or ladle it into your hot jars and seal firmly with the lids. Return the water to a boil and place filled jars inside. Jam only needs to boil for 5 minutes, while bath time for other foods (pickled beets being 30 minutes) vary. Allow the jars to cool, checking the lid seal and tightening as necessary.
• Expert advice: I’m not one, so while I’m telling you what I know, consult with the people who know what they’re talking about, like the National Center for Home Food Preservation: Steps in processing (PDF).

What I hadn’t counted on with canning pickled beets rather than jam, though, was all the extra steps. I had to make the beet marinade/pickling juice, for one. I think the fresh thyme is a nice touch, although the original recipe calls for dill.

While that was marinating, I had to actually cook the beets. Are you counting? That’s three pots on my stove right now, including one that’s so big it takes up two burners. And because I had so many and no pot was going to be large enough for them all, I had to cook THREE BATCHES of beets. Whew.

Once the beets cool slightly, their skins easily husk off, changing them from ugly little roots to the smooth, bright globes we’re more familiar with. So to sum up for the beets, wash them, cook them, skin them.

Cut them up. Place them in jars, to be covered with the pickling juice/marinade.

Return the jars to the canner of boiling water for 30 minutes of continued boiling. And you’re done!

Writing it down, it doesn’t sound like it’s oh-so difficult, and I don’t want anyone out there to think that it is. Pickling is a simple process. Canning is a simple process. Both are very rewarding. But six hours on a Saturday of canning, including:

• Nine wet/beet-colored kitchen towels
• Four stock-pot-sized pans to clean
• Fluorescent cuticles
• Several pounds of beet tops to throw away
• Most of my excess jars I keep around

Yeah, it felt like a lot. Mainly because I made a lot. A whole heckuva lot of pickled beets. And in case you don’t believe me, here’s the photographic proof.

Note to self: 12 bunches of beets is more beets than you think.

If you didn’t think I was strange before, you just might now. But trust me, the husband still thinks that this might not be enough to last him through the winter. I think we might just have bright pink tongues for a few months here at Local Dish. That or Santa might leave beets in some stockings this year. Now wouldn’t that be a Christmas Day surprise?