Canning beet question.

[farmerjack]

Has anyone canned golden beets? Have a customer asking about doing that. From what I read they maybe a little sweeter and sure don’t stain like the red ones.

Thanks for the help

Jack

[Melissa]

Last year I planted a package of mixed beets and some of them were golden. I used my pickled beet recipe and canned them along with the rest. I didn't notice much of a difference.

[susannah]

While we've canned red beets for years, we canned golden beets for the first time last year (as well as the usual red beets). I went to the canning pantry just now in hopes of finding a jar of golden beets but all I have left is red - I wanted to see if can detect any difference in flavor between the two. I don't remember the golden beets tasting like anything but, well, beets. We pressure canned both colors of beets the same method. The reason we're out of golden beets while still having a lot of red ones is purely because we had a lot more red beets than gold ones last year.

It seemed to me that the golden beets lost more color when canned than the red ones did - they almost looked like apple slices; the rich orange-gold color faded quite a bit. They definitely didn't stain like red ones do. I was quick to wipe up any gold streaks on the counter tops - while quartz counter tops are pretty stain resistant, I don't want to tempt fate and leave beet juice on them, regardless of the color of the beets.

Funny thing, though - after you mentioned reading that golden beets were sweeter, I googled around since I couldn't recall much if any difference in the taste once they were canned. And while many sources said golden beets are sweeter, there were a few that said red beets tasted sweeter. I do prefer the taste of golden beets to red ones when roasted fresh, but I really didn't notice much of a difference - if any - when they were canned.

[farmerjack]

Thanks folks for the help. Pretty much what I had read and one other lady had told me. Received two orders today for golden ones, twenty five lbs. each. Also an order for 30 lbs of the reds that do not have ready for harvest yet. Was beginning to wonder if this was going to be an off year for beet sales.

[Melissa]

I love to can beets! One of my favorite foods to can.