Golden Moroccan Spiced Beet Pickles

I make Christmas Spiced Beet Pickles every year and always run out before the next beet season.  As soon as the first beets came out of the garden,  I preserve a new batch. This year, in addition to the more traditional red beets I grow every year,  I also had some golden beets, and thought I would experiment with the golden beets.  The designer in me liked the idea of star anise against the golden background of the beets.  I make a roasted vegetable dish with star anise and cinnamon and thought the combination might work well with beets also.  The first batch was a bit too acidic. Apple cider vinegar and raw sugar rounded the second batch out.

Golden Moroccan Spiced BeetPickles, with Christmas Spiced Red Beets behind

Ingredients for Golden Moroccan Spiced Beet Pickles

• 2 pounds of golden beets
• 2 cups of Demerara sugar
• 2 cups of apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 of a cup of water
• 2 cinimon sticks
• 4 star anise
• 12 pepper corns
• 4 small bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons of pickling salt
• 4 one pint preserving jars

Prepare beets, cutting off tops to within an inch of the beet, leave root attached. Put in stainless steel pot and bring to boil,  reduce to simmer and cook for 25 to 50 minutes, until cooked.  Mean while, sterilize bottles, and put  1/2 a teaspoon of pickling salt, 3 pepper corns, 1/2 a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf, and one star anise in each bottle.  

Remove beets from water and rinse under cool water.  Peel beets and cut into bite size pieces. Tightly pack bottles with beets, to within 1/2"of top of bottle. 

Combine water, sugar and vinegar, in stainless steel pan and bring to boil.  Fill bottles to within 1/4 inch of top with syrup and put lids on bottles. Process for 30 minutes.

Cool and store in dark place.  Best after two weeks.  

Note: for my red Christmas beets, substitute 4 cloves and 2 all spice berries in each jar for the star anise.  I also use white sugar and white vinegar, rather than the demerara sugar and cider vinegar.