Melba's Jammin' > wrote:

> OK, so it's not blood, it's beet juice.

It must be the Real Barb this time! Halleluiah!

Here, read this:
<http://www.editred.com/Uploads/st_22094_Ode_to_beetroot>.

> I bought and cooked some (pressure cooked) last week and didn't pickle
> them because I thought I might have overcooked them.

No, I am sure you were just greedy and ate all of them "as is".

> So this morning I
> bought more -- $4 for four bunches of about 5 each, I think.

This is a ridiculously small amount for pickling. You need at least ten
times as much!

> I washed
> them in the washing machine along with the little cukes that are now
> bread and butter pickles, and four small terry towels. I pressure
> cooked these suckers, too, for less time than the others (I'm pretty
> sure) and I'm not sure about these, either. Crap.

Indeed, you ought to have roasted them instead.

> I just took them from the boiling water bath after 30 minutes of
> processing.

Way too long. If you boil beets normally, 30 minutes is plenty. In a
pressure cookier, 15 minutes is too long, 10 is enough.

> Five pints and two half pint jars.

A ridiculously small amount. The judges alone will be clamouring for
many more jars!

> Barf.

Indeed, there was probably a lot juice lost in that pressure cooker.

> All you pickled beet freaks, what's the texture of the beet supposed to
> be? Fork tender? A little bit of tooth?

In between. BTW, that $175 jar of beet pickles was great, one of the
best I've ever had.

> As far as entering them in the Fair ‹ well, I'm going to. I used a
> different recipe this year than last ‹ and have no clue about what they
> taste like. Rob won't eat them either.

He saves them for the fair.

> Jeez, I oughtta be locked up.

Yes, because if you won't also enter Barb's Beety Beauty you will have
trouble winning more than a couple of black ribbons.

Bubba