Last week after getting home from a weekend at the cottage I inspected the beet patch to see how things are going. Low and behold I had gargantuan Chioggias coming out of my ears. I should have known, as they are the earliest of the beets I like to grow. I also have some Detroit Reds and some Detroit Goldens on the go. I’m afraid to see how big they are. Between the very gregarious patch of Rainbow Swiss Chard I have going (I am so sick of chard!!) and the beets, I can barely keep up.

Chioggias (aka candy cane beets) are a little unconventional for pickling as they tend to bleed out all their lovely candy cane striping, but I love their unusual look all the same. As you can see each jar is a little different depending on which jar got the beets with more red in them.

I’ll probably can some more pickled beets with the Detroit Reds to get some more traditional looking ones. I eat these things like candy. Its the one pickle I make that I can be sure I will always eat tons of. I might try pickling some of the Goldens too — I’m curious how they’ll look in the jar.

Read my pickled beets recipe…