Every year, I can’t wait for the lilac to bloom, and every year, I’m sad when it fades again a few weeks later. That’s why I try to preserve those beautiful flowers as best as I can and thus prolong their season. Contrary to popular opinion, lilac flowers are not toxic. In fact, any variety of lilacs (Syringa spp.) is edible. One of my favourite recipes is this homemade lilac syrup. Its colour is stunning, and lilac syrup in a lemonade or on top of ice cream adds an extravagant touch!
For the colour, however, we must use a trick, as it does not come from the lilac itself. Nevertheless, it’s totally natural and organic. I’ll show you how to do it.
Lilac syrup
Yield: 500 ml
Ingredients
a bowl full of lilac flowers: make sure to use unsprayed lilac; also, do not use lilac from a roadside where it gets polluted by exhaust fumes and dust
250 ml water
250 g sugar
3 – 4 blueberries for the colour
1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
1. Carefully pluck the flowers off the stems. Make sure that nothing green gets into the bowl, only the flowers. The green parts of the flowers would make the syrup bitter.
2. Carefully wash the flowers with cold water.
3. Put the water and sugar into a pot and boil the solution while constantly stirring it. The sugar must be dissolved completely.
4. Remove the pot from the heat and add the blueberries and lemon juice. Stir slightly until the liquid has the colour you like.
Blueberries give our lilac syrup that wonderfully light lavender hue.
5. Let the syrup cool down to room temperature. Now, add the lilac flowers and stir them slightly in.
Cover the pot and let it all rest for about 18 – 24 hours.
The lilac syrup is ready to rest for about 18 – 24 hours
6. Strain the mixture through a fine strainer into another pot. Gently press the last syrup out of the lilac flowers.
7. The mixture is ready for use now, but it will only last 2 – 3 days in the fridge.
If you want to preserve it for longer, bring the syrup to a short boil once more and pour the hot liquid into glass bottles. Close them immediately with lids. Preserved that way, lilac syrup can be stored up to 18 months. Once you open a bottle, consume the syrup within 2 – 3 days.
Alternatively, you can freeze the lilac syrup.
How to use lilac syrup
Beverages
Stir a tablespoon into a glass of iced tea for a floral afternoon refreshment
Swirl into plain yoghurt with fresh berries and granola
Blend into smoothie bowls
Stir into overnight oats with sliced almonds and blueberries
Brush onto warm scones fresh from the oven
Desserts
Brush onto cake layers before frosting for added moisture and flavour
Drizzle over vanilla ice cream
Mix into whipped cream for a floral topping on desserts
Use as a sweetener in homemade popsicles with berries
Angela Braun
Lilac Syrup
This elegant syrup adds a touch of botanical sophistication to cocktails, lemonades, and iced teas. Drizzle it over pancakes or waffles, stir into yoghurt, or use as a finishing touch for cakes and pastries.
Carefully plug the flowers off the stems. Make sure that nothing green gets into the bowl, only the flowers.
Wash the flowers with cold water.
Put the water and sugar into a pot and boil it while constantly stirring. The sugar must be dissolved completely.
Remove the pot from the heat and add the blueberries and lemon juice. Stir slightly until the liquid has the colour you like.
Let the syrup cool down to room temperature, add the lilac flowers, cover the pot and let it all rest for about 18 - 24 hours.
Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into another pot. Gently press the last syrup out of the lilac flowers.
The mixture is ready for use now but will only last 2 - 3 days in the fridge. If you want to preserve it for longer, bring the syrup to a boil once more and the boiling liquid into glass bottles. Alternatively, you can freeze the lilac syrup.
Notes
Add lilac syrup to cocktails, lemonades and iced teas. Mix it with sparkling wine and you have an extravagant aperitif. However, lilac syrup is not only for drinks. Get creative and drizzle it over pancakes or waffles, stir it into yoghurt, or use it as a finishing touch for cakes and pastries.
Let’s be honest: there comes a point every autumn when we hit “peak pumpkin spice”. You know, when even your neighbour’s cat seems to wear a pumpkin spice collar. But wait: before you swear off anything pumpkin for the rest of your life, let me introduce you to this recipe for sweet-sour pumpkin.
In this form, pumpkin proves it is more than just soup or pie. This German-inspired dish (we call it “Kürbis süß-sauer” – try to say that three times fast!) balances the pumpkin’s natural sweetness with a tangy vinegar-based sauce.
I grew up with this heavenly dish. My mom still makes it usually around mid-November and the smell of the sweet vinegar and spices in combination with misty days, tell me that we’re nearing Christmas time.
The best thing about this dish is that it’s so versatile: What I love most about this dish is its chameleon-like quality – serve it warm alongside your Thanksgiving turkey, at room temperature on a holiday appetizer board, or chilled as a unique addition to winter salads. The sweet-sour preparation also means it keeps beautifully in the fridge, making it perfect for busy weeknight meals or advance holiday preparations.
Serve it warm, and it’s comfort food. Serve it cold, and it suddenly becomes fancy antipasto. Leave it in the fridge, and it gets even better. Whether you grew your own pumpkins this year or picked some up from the local farmers’ market, this recipe offers a delicious way to preserve the yellow berries well into winter.
So if you’re ready to rescue a pumpkin from its pie-destined fate and transform it into something that’ll make your taste buds do a happy dance, stick around. This recipe is about to become your new fall flex – because nobody needs to know it’s actually super easy to make. (That’ll be our little secret!)
1. Chop the firm flesh of ripe but not overripe pumpkins into cubes of about 1,5 cm (3/4 inch).
2. Put vinegar, sugar, lemon peel and spices into a pot and bring it to a boil.
3. Cook the pumpkin cubes in several portions until they are glassy through and through. This takes some time, about 20 – 30 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes. Make sure they are really cooked through, otherwise the preserve won’t last.
4. When the pumpkins are well cooked, put them out with a slotted spoon and put them into the jars.
5. Let the liquid boil for 5 minutes. Remove the lemon peel and pour the boiling-hot juice into the jars so that the pumpkin cubes are under the brim. Immediately tight-seal the lids.
6. Stored in a cool and dark place, sweet-sour pumpkin will last at least for one year.
Sweet-sour pumpkins
The best thing about sweet-sour pumpkin is that it’s so versatile: What I love most about this dish is its chameleon-like quality – serve it warm alongside your Thanksgiving turkey, at room temperature on a holiday appetizer board, or chilled as a unique addition to winter salads. The sweet-sour preparation also means it keeps beautifully in the fridge, making it perfect for busy weeknight meals or advance holiday preparations.
Chop the firm flesh of ripe but not overripe pumpkins into cubes of a 1.5 cm (3/4 inch)
Put vinegar, sugar, lemon peel and spices into a pot and bring it to a boil.
Cook the pumpkin cubes in several portions until they are glassy through and through. This takes some time, about 20 – 30 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes. Make sure they are really cooked through, otherwise the preserve won’t last.
When the pumpkins are well cooked, put them out with a slotted spoon and put them into the jars.
Let the liquid boil for 5 minutes. Remove the lemon peel and pour the boiling-hot juice into the jars so that the pumpkin cubes are under the brim. Immediately tight-seal the lids.
Stored in a cool and dark place, sweet-sour pumpkin will last at least for one year.
Now, if that’s not proof enough that pumpkins can break free from their spice-laden destiny, I don’t know what is! This recipe has turned more pumpkin sceptics into believers than a fairy godmother turning pumpkins into carriages (although, unlike Cinderella’s ride, these sweet-sour pumpkins won’t turn back into regular pumpkins at midnight).
So, if you’re looking for a pumpkin recipe other than pie, this one’s your new best friend. Your taste buds will thank you and your dinner guests will be impressed. And if anyone asks where you got this recipe, just wink mysteriously and say it’s an old family secret. Or you know, share the link to this blog – I’m good either way! 😉
Usually, when we preserve fruits or vegetables by canning, we add some liquid (usually water) to fill up the jars. But did you know that you can also preserve apples by dry-canning them? These dry-canned apples are the basis for a quick apple strudel or the filling for an apple cake. You can even use it for a crumble.
All you need is a water-bath canner, jars with lids and some apples. I recommend at least one kilogram, but the more the better.
Preparation
Prepare your jars by washing them and the lids in hot water or the dishwasher. Put the jar lids and rings or the rubber bands in a pot and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it all cook for five minutes. Remove the lids, rings and/or rubber bands from the boiling water and put them onto a clean dish towel on the kitchen counter. Let them dry.
Instructions
Rinse the apples in your sink to wash off any dirt. Also, remove any leaves, grass or other residues. Then peel them, cut out the cores and any rotten parts and quarter them. You can use the apple scraps for making apple vinegar. For that purpose, it’s great to have three bowls at hand: one for the apple quarters, one for the “good” scraps for making apple vinegar and one for the rotten parts and wormy cores to discard.
Half the quarters lengthwise and chop the apples into slices of about 3 millimetres. When you’ve chopped all the apples, fill them tightly into the prepared jars. Make sure that there’s as little room left in between the slices as possible. Leave about one inch of headspace. Before closing the lids, make sure that the rim of the jar is clean. That’s best ensured by dipping a clean cloth (for example a towel) into some vinegar and wiping the rims clean. Seal the jars with the lids.
Dry-canning apples
Fill the water bath canner with as much (cold to lukewarm!) water as indicated in the instructions. Put the jars into the canner, ensuring enough space so they don’t touch. Heat the canner to 100 °C. Once it has reached that temperature, let it simmer for 40 minutes. When time’s up, remove the jars with a glass lifter from the water bath canner and put them onto a dishcloth on the counter. Let the glasses cool down slowly.
Stored in a cool, dry place, dry-canned apples have a shelf life of at least two years.
Dry-canned apples
Did you know that you can preserve apples by dry-canning them? These dry-canned apples are the basis for a quick apple strudel or the filling for an apple cake and even crumble.All you need is a water-bath canner, jars with lids and some apples. I recommend at least one kilogram, but the more the better.
Prepare your jars by washing them and the lids in hot water or the dishwasher. Put the jar lids and rings or the rubber bands in a pot and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it all cook for five minutes. Remove the lids, rings and/or rubber bands from the boiling water and put them onto a clean dish towel on the kitchen counter. Let them dry.
Rinse the apples in your sink to wash off any dirt. Also, remove any leaves, grass or other residues.
Then peel the apples, cut out the cores and any rotten parts and quarter them. You can use the apple scraps for making apple vinegar.
Half the quarters lengthwise and chop the apples into slices of about 3 millimetres. When you’ve chopped all the apples, fill them tightly into the prepared jars. Make sure that there’s as little room left in between the slices as possible. Leave about one inch of headspace. Before closing the lids, make sure that the rim of the jar is clean. That's best ensured by dipping a clean cloth (for example a towel) into some vinegar and wiping the rims clean. Seal the jars with the lids.
Fill the water bath canner with as much (cold to lukewarm!) water as indicated in the instructions. Put the jars into the canner, ensuring enough space so they don’t touch. Heat the canner to 100 °C. Once it has reached that temperature, let it simmer for 40 minutes. When time’s up, remove the jars with a glass lifter from the water bath canner and put them onto a dishcloth on the counter. Let the glasses cool down slowly.
Stored in a cool, dry place, dry-canned apples have a shelf life of at least two years.
If you, like me, pickle a lot of vegetables, you need a good deal of apple vinegar. Instead of buying it, however, why not try your hand at making it by yourself – from scraps! It’s so easy, that you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it earlier and never will buy a drop of apple vinegar again. All you need is apple scraps that is peels and cores (for example from making apple sauce or dry-canning apples), water, sugar and a bit of raw apple vinegar to start. As containers you’ll need sufficiently large sterile bottles or jars as well as some cloths to cover the jars
But before we start, let’s take a quick look at how vinegar is made.
Step 1: Sugar becomes alcohol
The first step to making apple vinegar is the production of apple wine. Natural yeasts transform the sugar from the apples plus the sugar we add into alcohol. You can see that by the formation of white foam on the surface. It’s also possible that after a few days, a white layer forms on the surface. That’s kahm yeast and it’s harmless.
When, after some time, the acid content in the liquid rises, kahm (and other) yeast(s) disappear.
Step 2: Alcohol becomes vinegar
As soon as the first alcohol has formed, acetic acid bacteria also start to work. They are naturally in the air and on the fruits and need alcohol and oxygen to multiply. For this reason, it’s essential that you only cover the jars with a cloth because without oxygen the acetic acid bacteria cannot work.
The alcohol is now fermented to acetic acid. If you want to learn more about how fermentation works, this article is just the thing you need:
How to make apple vinegar from scraps
Prepare your jars by washing them and the lids in hot water or the dishwasher and then let them dry.
Before processing your apples, wash them thoroughly in the sink to remove any dirt. Now peel and quarter them (depending on what you want to do with those apples) and remove the core. Cut off any rotten parts. Only unspoiled and healthy peels and cores can be used for making vinegar.
When chopping apples, I usually have three bowls at hand: one for the apple quarters to be processed, one for the “good” apple peels and cores and one for the rotten parts to be thrown away.
Put the peels and cores into a one-litre glass bottle until it’s about ¾ full. Add half a cup of sugar, and half a cup of apple vinegar as a starter and fill the bottle up with water. Stir or shake the mixture until the sugar has dissolved.
Don’t close the bottle with a lid as we need oxygen to make vinegar. Instead, put a clean piece of cloth on the bottle opening and fix it with a rubber band. That way, the liquid is exposed to oxygen, but no fruit flies or dirt can get into it.
Put the bottle in a warm, dark place (no direct sunlight) and let it sit for about 10 – 14 days. After a few days, you’ll see tiny bubbles forming.
After a few days, bubbles start to form
Sometimes, the mixture builds foam and may even bubble over the rim. If a thin white spread forms on the surface that destroys when you stir it slightly, that’s no reason to worry. It’s kahm yeast and will neither affect the process nor the taste. Around day 6 it’ll start to smell of vinegar.
After about 10 – 14 days, strain the liquid through a colander into a clean glass bottle. Make sure to squeeze out any residual liquid from the peels. If you have, you can add a vinegar mother to your fresh vinegar. This will help it to mature.
Put a fresh clean cloth on the opening and fix it with a rubber band. Let the vinegar mature in a cool, dark place for about six months. During this time, a mother of vinegar might form which is a great sign that everything’s going well! Taste your vinegar after six months. If it’s to your liking and a vinegar mother has formed, decant it into a fresh bottle. Carefully put the vinegar mother into a separate jar and fill it up with enough vinegar to cover it completely. You may use it as a starter for the next vinegar.
Homegrown jellyfish, a.k.a. mother of vinegar
Other fruit vinegars
I’ve also tried making vinegar from pear and quince scraps and it worked out very well. The pear and quince vinegar took a bit longer to mature (about 8 – 12 months) but the wait was absolutely worth it! Both vinegars tasted deliciously fruity and relatively mild and they add an interesting flavour to fruit salads. Pear and quince vinegar are also marvellous in a vinaigrette for autumn salads like lamb’s ear and chicory with pears, grapes and walnuts.
Apples are available all year round, especially when you grow a variety of them that ensure a long harvesting and shelf life. If you don’t have an orchard, you still can buy apples at any time of year. Nevertheless, fresh apples, plucked right from a tree when they are ripe are the privilege of autumn. I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful brother with a vast orchard and enough love for his sister that he allows her (that is: me) to have her share of his fruit harvest. Where we had very few fruits last year, this year has presented us with an abundance of them! Apart from eating the apples right from the tree and baking apple cakes in all varietes, what better way to preserve them for the upcoming winter than by canning apple sauce?
Ingredients and equipment for canning apple sauce
You’ll need a water bath canner (no pressure canner necessary for this recipe), appropriately large jars with well-closing lids and apples – at least one kilogram, the more the better – and sugar if you like.
Preparations
Prepare your jars by washing them and the lids in hot water or the dishwasher. Put the jar lids and rings or the rubber bands in a pot and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it all cook for five minutes. Remove the lids, rings and/or rubber bands from the boiling water and put them onto a clean dish towel on the kitchen counter. Let them dry.
Instructions for canning apple sauce
Rinse the apples in your sink to wash off any dirt. Also, remove any leaves, grass or other residues. Once washed, peel the apples, quarter them and cut out the cores. Cut off all rotten parts. If you want to make apple vinegar from the scraps, make sure that you only use unspoiled peels and cores. I usually take three bowls when preparing apple sauce: one for the apple quarters to be cooked, one for rotten apple parts or wormy cores to discard and one for all the scraps I later use for making vinegar.
Cooking
Once you’ve peeled and cut all the apples, wash the quarters again and put them into a large pot (or several if you have too many apples to fit into one, though you can also cook them in succession). Fill up water to about a quarter of the pot and put the apples to a boil. When the water’s boiling, carefully stir the apples from the top under so that they cook as well. After some minutes – depending on the sort – the apples become soft. Now use a hand blender to mix them into a smooth, homogenous mass. If you want, you can now optionally add some sugar to the apple sauce, but it isn’t necessary for preserving. I don’t use sugar in my apple sauce but if you want to and like your sauce sweeter, go ahead and add sugar to your taste.
When the sauce is blended stir it well until it’s boiling. Be very careful at this stage as the thick mass will easily bubble over and explosively release splashes of hot apple sauce that usually shoot at an unsuspecting arm or hand. I’ve gotten burnt more than once and know what I’m talking about…
Remove the pot from the stove and with the help of a funnel, ladle the apple sauce into the jars. Leave about one inch of headspace. Before closing the lids, make sure that the rim of the jar is clean. That’s best ensured by dipping a clean cloth (for example a towel) into some vinegar and wiping the rims clean. Seal the jars with the lids.
Canning
To can the jars, fill as much water into your water-bath canner as indicated in the manual and heat it. The water in the pot must have approximately the same temperature as the apple sauce in the jars. If we put the hot jars into cold to medium-warm water, they would break due to the huge temperature difference between the outside (water) and the inside (apple sauce). When the water has reached about 70 °C (160 °F), you can put the jars into the water bath canner (the apple sauce in the jars will have cooled down to approximately the same temperature by now). Make sure there is enough space between the jars and they don’t touch. Close the pot lid and bring the water to a boil. Once it boils, set the timer to 35 minutes and let the canner do its wonders.
When time’s up, carefully open the canner lid. Beware of the hot steam! Remove the jars with a glass lifter out of the canner and put them onto a towel on the counter to cool down.
When they’ve cooled down completely, store the apple sauce in a cool and dark place. It’ll last up to two years.
Apple sauce is a wonderful addition to pancakes or waffles, you can stir it into your morning yoghurt, make an autumnal apple tiramisu with it or just scoop it right from the jar.
Apple Sauce
Apple sauce is a wonderful addition to pancakes or waffles, you can stir it into your morning yoghurt, make an autumnal apple tiramisu with it or just scoop it right from the jar.
apples, at least one kilogram, the more the better
sugar (optional),to taste
Method
Prepare your jars by washing them and the lids in hot water or the dishwasher. Put the jar lids and rings or the rubber bands in a pot and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it all cook for five minutes. Remove the lids, rings and/or rubber bands from the boiling water and put them onto a clean dish towel on the kitchen counter. Let them dry.
Rinse the apples in your sink to wash off any dirt. Also, remove any leaves, grass or other residues.
Once washed, peel the apples, quarter them and cut out the cores. Cut off all rotten parts. If you want to make apple vinegar from the scraps, make sure that you only use unspoiled peels and cores.
Once you've peeled and cut all the apples, wash the quarters again and put them into a large pot (or several if you have too many apples to fit into one, although you can also cook them in succession). Fill up water to about a quarter of the pot and put the apples to a boil.
When the water's boiling, carefully stir the apples from the top under so that they cook as well. After 5 - 20 minutes - depending on the variety – the apples become soft. Now use a hand blender to mix them into a smooth, homogenous mass. If you want, you can now optionally add some sugar to the apple sauce, but it isn't necessary for preserving.
When the sauce is blended stir it well until it’s boiling. Be very careful at this stage as the thick mass will easily bubble over and explosively release splashes of hot apple sauce that usually shoot at an unsuspecting arm or hand.
Remove the pot from the stove and with the help of a funnel, ladle the apple sauce into the jars. Leave about one inch of headspace. Before closing the lids, make sure that the rim of the jar is clean. That's best ensured by dipping a clean cloth (for example a towel) into some vinegar and wiping the rims clean. Seal the jars with the lids.
To can the jars, fill as much water into your water-bath canner as indicated in the manual and heat it. The water in the pot must have approximately the same temperature as the apple sauce in the jars. If we put the hot jars into cold to medium-warm water, they would break due to the huge temperature difference between the outside (water) and the inside (apple sauce). Make sure there is enough space between the jars and they don’t touch. Close the pot lid and bring the water to a boil. Once it boils, set the timer to 35 minutes and let the canner do its wonders.
When time's up, carefully open the canner lid. Beware of the hot steam! Remove the jars with a glass lifter out of the canner and put them onto a towel on the counter to cool down.
When they’ve cooled down completely, store the apple sauce in a cool and dark place. It’ll last up to two years.
Never judge a book by its cover – or in this case: a vegetable by its appearance. Beetroots are not the prettiest of veggies. They are plump, dirty and make a hell of a mess when cut up. But if you get to know them, you’ll love them. You can eat them raw, cooked, steamed, boiled or roasted and preserve them by freezing, pickling, canning or fermenting them. Add to that a wonderfully unique taste and a bunch of nutrients and you have a veggie superstar! If you don’t know how to deal with an abundance of beetroots, look no further. In this post, I’ll show you two recipes for pickled beetroots so that you can enjoy their flavour and colour all winter long.
Pickled beetroots I
Yield: 5 jars of 350 ml Shelf life: up to two years
Ingredients
1,2 kg beetroots 3/4 l apple vinegar 1/8 l water 80 g sugar 1 tsp salt 4 tbsp grated horseradish 1 tbsp white peppercorns 1 tbsp caraway 5 cloves 1 bay leaf
Instructions
1. Put on an apron and always – ALWAYS – wear disposable gloves when handling beetroots. Otherwise, the stains will never come out of your clothes and your hands will have a butcherlike colour for quite some time.
2. Cut off the leaves to about 1 cm and put the beetroots onto a baking tray. Bake them in the oven at a temperature of 175 °C (350 °F) for 60 – 90 minutes, depending on their thickness. When they feel soft, they’re ready.
Put your beetroots onto a tray and bake them in the oven for about 1 – 1,5 hours.
3. In the meantime, mix the vinegar, sugar and salt and put it to a boil. Wash the horseradish, peel it and grate it.
4. Peel the cooked beetroots and chop them into squares. I do not recommend slices as they fall apart easily.
5. Layer the still-warm beetroots with the spices into jars. Fill up with the hot fluid and close the jars tightly with lids. Store the pickled beetroots in a cool and dark place.
Put on an apron and always - ALWAYS - wear disposable gloves when handling beetroots. Otherwise, the stains will never come out of your clothes and your hands will have a butcherlike colour for quite some time.
Cut off the leaves to about 1 cm and put the beetroots onto a baking tray. Bake them in the oven at a temperature of 175 °C (350 °F) for 60 - 90 minutes, depending on their thickness. When they feel soft, they're ready.
In the meantime, mix the vinegar, sugar and salt and put it to a boil. Wash the horseradish, peel it and grate it.
Peel the cooked beetroots and chop them into squares. I do not recommend slices as they fall apart easily.
Layer the still-warm beetroots with the spices into jars. Fill up with the hot fluid and close the jars tightly with lids. Store the pickled beetroots in a cool and dark place.
Pickled beetroots II
If you like it a bit milder, the following recipe will suit you! It uses apple juice in combination with vinegar which leads to a more fruity taste. As we use less vinegar, however, the shelf life is only up to one year when stored in a cool place.
Yield: 5 jars of 350 ml Shelf life: up to one year
Ingredients
1,2 kg beetroots 1 l water 3/8 l apple juice 1/8 l apple vinegar 100 g sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp black peppercorns 1 tbsp caraway
Instructions
The procedure is pretty much the same as in recipe I:
1. Cut off the leaves to about 1 cm and put the beetroots onto a baking tray. Bake them in the oven at a temperature of 175 °C (350 °F) for 60 – 90 minutes, depending on their thickness. When they feel soft, they’re ready.
2. In the meantime, mix the vinegar, sugar and salt and put it to a boil.
3. Peel the cooked beetroots and chop them into squares.
Once baked and peeled, chop the beetroots into squares
4. Layer the still warm beetroots with the spices into jars. Fill up with the hot fluid and close the jars tightly with lids. Store the pickled beetroots in a cool and dark place.
Pickled Beetroots II
This is a recipe for a milder version of pickled beetroots. The combination of apple vinegar and apple juice takes the edge off the vinegar while at the same time adding a fruity aroma to the pickles.
1. Put on an apron and always - ALWAYS - wear disposable gloves when handling beetroots. Otherwise, the stains will never come out of your clothes and your hands will have a butcherlike colour for quite some time.
Cut off the leaves to about 1 cm and put the beetroots onto a baking tray. Bake them in the oven at a temperature of 175 °C (350 °F) for 60 - 90 minutes, depending on their thickness. When they feel soft, they're ready.
In the meantime, mix the vinegar, sugar and salt and put it to a boil.
Peel the cooked beetroots and chop them into squares.
Layer the still warm beetroots with the spices into jars. Fill up with the hot fluid and close the jars tightly with lids. Store the pickled beetroots in a cool and dark place.
Pickled beetroots can be eaten with a cold supper or some sandwiches, but they also make a wonderful side dish to potatoes and herring as well as boiled beef. If you want to go a bit further you can make this tasty spread with pickled beetroots.
