Mom’s Beet Pickles

3 cups white sugar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons mixed whole spices, tied in cheese cloth

3 cups vinegar

2 tablespoons salt

3 quarts cooked beets (cut in chunks if beets are large)

Combine all the pickling ingredients (minus the cooked beets) in a saucepan and boil well, until sugar is completely dissolved and the spices have a chance to permeate the liquid. Add the 3 quarts of cooked beets and cook 5 minutes. Remove the cheese cloth bag of whole spices, add beets and liquid to clean, sanitized glass jars. Seal with jar lids and rings and process in a water bath canner. 

This recipe is one my mother, both grandmothers, and great aunt used each summer when beets were plentiful in their gardens. Their background was German and English