Just Beet it

This Monday was "Garde Manger" day. The Garde Manger in the kitchen is also known as The Pantry Chef, in charge of cold foods, elaborate buffets, salads and dressings, desserts, snacks, and most importantly, ice carvings.

We worked on preservation. A few techniques or tools in the kitchen can help with preservation, such as salting, jarring, curing, and pickling.

And beets. It was all about beets. Right beets are so good?

Pickling and preserving the beets is a tedious process, but I'm sure you know that I think it's worth it. First, we boiled the beets to soften them and make them easier to peel. We added vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to a pot with the beets and a bunch of onions, and got the mixture hot. Meanwhile, we had to sterilize the jars by floating them and the covers in boiling water, removing (carefully) with tongs and set them up on a wire rack over a sheet pan. We filled up hot jars with hot (delicious) beets, and then we had to process them. The time it takes to process the jars depends on the type of food and the altitude level. We placed the open jars of beets in a pot of boiling water and covered them for 30 minutes. Then we put the covers on but didn't screw them on tightly until the cap acted like a vacuum to seal it itself.

Finally, once we felt the cap get suctioned down, we were able to screw on the lid tightly. These jars can stay on your shelf for 10 years! It's amazing. And delicious. Did you know that I like beets?

Tip of the day: When working with vegetables which are difficult to peel with a peeler (like beets or potatoes) boil them first and the skin will just pop right off and make your life much easier. Also, when you work with beets, wear gloves. You'll thank me later.