A flavour-packed and gut-friendly recipe from chef and fermentarian Clare Heal aka Sycamore Smyth, who picks her GC bag up at Finsbury Park every week.
These are a delicious addition to soups and salads, plus the beautiful purple brine is a great ingredient in itself. I like to drink it diluted with sparkling water. No, really! It’s delicious and full of probiotics.
Photo shows a “winter pinks” salad made with some of my beets alongside radicchio and blood oranges. I tore the leaves roughly and cut the orange segments away from the pith, collecting any juice that escaped. Then I mixed the orange juice with a couple of tablespoons of the beet brine, some olive oil, salt and black pepper for a simple dressing. Garnished with toasted hazelnuts it makes a really nice seasonal starter or side.
5 medium-sized beetroot
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp coriander seeds
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves, fresh or dried
1 celery stalk with leaves, roughly chopped
500ml water
13g sea salt
You will need a scrupulously clean glass or ceramic jar with an airtight lid. I found five medium-sized beets filled a 750ml jar when sliced thinly.
Peel the beetroot and chop into whatever shape you like, reserving a couple of the tops to use as a pickle weight. I sliced mine into thin rounds on a mandoline but thicker slices, cubes or chunky segments will also work fine. Bear in mind that larger pieces will take longer to ferment.
Put the spices, garlic, bay leaves and celery in the bottom of your jar and pack the beet pieces on top.
Whisk the salt into the water to dissolve. You can boil the water to help this along if you like, but make sure to let it cool back down to room temperature before pouring on the beets or it will kill all the friendly microbes that help make our pickle. Pour the brine over the beets.
Add a beetroot top to act as a pickle wight. You could also use another stick of celery wedged in the neck of the jar, half an onion or a sandwich bag filled with some leftover brine: anything that stops the pieces of beetroot from floating to the top of the jar and exposing themselves to the air.
Seal the jar and leave at room temperature. I advise sitting it on a plate or tray in case of leakage. It will take about two weeks for the beets to become sour, depending on how large the pieces are.
Let the gas out of the jar every couple of days and taste regularly to see how they are coming along.
When they have reached a level of pickledness that pleases you, move the jar to the fridge where they will keep indefinitely.
All the flavourings are optional, although garlic does bring great microbial action as well as flavour. Feel free to swap in whatever hers or spices you like. Fennel seeds and/or horseradish would be a great alternative here. However, please don’t leave the bay leaves out – they contain tannins, which are crucial for keeping the pickles crunchy.
Once you’ve eaten the pickles, don’t throw the brine away. It’s full of flavour and beneficial bacteria so you can either use it to start a new batch of pickles – just chop them up and pop them in – or as an ingredient in cooking.
Or pop a few hard-boiled eggs in there for a couple of days for a pretty purple take on the pickled pub classic.
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