Pickled Beets

Over the weekend, I harvested all of the beets in my garden.  I had promised my dad a jar of pickled beets, so I decided to can a batch on Saturday.  I've never made pickled beets before, but I've done tomatoes, jam, and applesauce.  I figured that pickling would be the next logical step in my canning education.   

It was quite an adventure and I'm not at all happy with my Ball canning book at the moment.  The pickled beet recipe could use a serious update.  Here's what happened -- I was doing so well.  I selected uniform-sized beets, boiled them according to the directions, then slipped off their skins and quartered them.  I made my pickling liquid and added the beets once it came to a boil.  I got my jars ready and was all set up.  And then I filled my first jar with beet slices up to the 1/2 inch mark and attempted to fill in the gaps with the pickling liquid.  By the time I had added enough liquid to cover the beets up to the 1/2 inch mark, I was out of liquid -- and 5 jars of beets yet to go!  I was so mad.  I had to start over.  I tripled the amount of pickling liquid and barely had enough for the rest of my jars.  Which, by the way, made 5 jars not 6 as the recipe indicated.

I am pleased with the final product, and all of my jars did seal nicely.  But really, I would expect much better accuracy from a Ball recipe.