Chef Thomas
Apple Chutney
A spiced autumn chutney made from a glut of apples and a quiet afternoon, simmered down until the kitchen smells of October and the jars line up on the counter like a small, useful insurance policy.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Pickled Beetroot
Created by Chef Thomas
Crimson beetroot in spiced vinegar, packed into jars on a Saturday afternoon and waiting in the cupboard for the cold meats and sharp cheeses of the months ahead.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
20 min
Active Time
50 min cook•PT1H10M plus a week of waiting total
Yield3 medium jars (about 1.2 litres)
October. The beetroot at the market are pulled from the ground that morning, still wearing their soil and their long ragged tops. I bought too many, as I always do, and walked home with my fingers smelling faintly of earth.
This is the moment for pickling. Beetroot are at their best in autumn, dense and sweet and the colour of something serious. They keep, of course. They'll sit in a cool cupboard for weeks. But the best of them go into jars, where they'll last through the winter and stain everything they meet a deep, unrepentant crimson. There's a kind of quiet satisfaction in lining them up on the shelf and knowing they're there.
I eat pickled beetroot with cold ham and a hunk of strong cheddar and bread that doesn't need anything else. I eat them on Boxing Day with the leftover everything. I eat them in February when the kitchen is grey and I need a reminder that there were bright things once. A jar of these is a small insurance policy against a long winter.
The method is barely a method. Cook the beetroot. Make a spiced vinegar. Slice, pack, pour, wait. We're only making dinner, except this time we're making it for a version of ourselves a few weeks from now. I wrote it down in the notebook: beetroot, spice, patience.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
beetroot
Quantity
1kg
small to medium, stalks trimmed to 2cm, root left on
malt vinegar
Quantity
600ml
cider vinegar
Quantity
200ml
golden caster sugar
Quantity
200g
flaky sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
black peppercorns
Quantity
2 teaspoons
whole allspice berries
Quantity
1 teaspoon
whole cloves
Quantity
6
bay leaves
Quantity
2
cinnamon stick
Quantity
1 small
yellow mustard seeds
Quantity
1 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| beetrootsmall to medium, stalks trimmed to 2cm, root left on | 1kg |
| malt vinegar | 600ml |
| cider vinegar | 200ml |
| golden caster sugar | 200g |
| flaky sea salt | 1 tablespoon |
| black peppercorns | 2 teaspoons |
| whole allspice berries | 1 teaspoon |
| whole cloves | 6 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| cinnamon stick | 1 small |
| yellow mustard seeds | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Large saucepan for cooking the beetroot
- •Non-reactive saucepan for the vinegar
- •Three medium preserving jars with vinegar-proof lids
- •Fine sieve
- •Rubber gloves (optional but wise)
Instructions
- 1
Cook the beetroot whole
Wash the beetroot under cold water, scrubbing away any clinging soil but being careful not to break the skin. Leave the root tail on and a thumb-length of stalk at the top. This is the trick to keeping the colour where you want it. Put them in a large pan, cover with cold water, add a generous pinch of salt, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until a knife slides in with no resistance. Small beetroot might take thirty minutes, larger ones closer to an hour. The skins should rub away under your thumbs when they're ready.
If you'd rather roast them, wrap them in foil with a splash of water and bake at 180C until tender. Roasting concentrates the sweetness. Boiling keeps them mild. Both work. - 2
Sterilise the jars
While the beetroot cooks, wash three medium jars and their lids in hot soapy water, rinse well, and set them upside down on a baking tray in a low oven, around 120C, for fifteen minutes. They need to be properly hot when the vinegar goes in. Cold jars and hot vinegar are a recipe for cracked glass and a wasted afternoon.
- 3
Make the spiced vinegar
Pour both vinegars into a non-reactive saucepan. Stainless steel is fine. Aluminium is not. Add the sugar, salt, peppercorns, allspice, cloves, bay, cinnamon, and mustard seeds. Bring it slowly to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Let it bubble gently for five minutes. Your kitchen will smell sharp and warming and slightly Christmas-like. That's exactly right. Take it off the heat and let the spices steep while the beetroot cools.
- 4
Peel and slice
When the beetroot are cool enough to handle but still warm, rub the skins off under cold running water. They should slip away easily. Wear an apron unless you want to spend the rest of the day looking like you've been in a fight. Top and tail them, then slice into rounds about half a centimetre thick. Not too thin. You want some bite left in them after they've sat in the vinegar.
A pair of rubber gloves saves your fingers from staining for days. I never remember to wear them and I always regret it. - 5
Pack and pour
Pack the beetroot slices into the warm jars, layering them in tightly without crushing. Slip a bay leaf down the side of one or two of the jars if you've got a few extra. Strain the spiced vinegar through a sieve, then pour it over the beetroot until they're completely submerged. Tap the jars gently on the worktop to release any trapped air. Seal while everything is still warm.
- 6
Wait
This is the part nobody wants to hear. Put the jars in a cool, dark cupboard and leave them for at least a week before opening. Two weeks is better. The beetroot needs time to take on the spice and the sweetness, to soften slightly without going limp, to become the thing you actually want it to be. Good food rewards patience. Pickled beetroot rewards it more than most.
Chef Tips
- •Buy small beetroot if you can. They cook more evenly, slice neatly, and look better in the jar. Save the giant ones for roasting whole with butter and thyme.
- •Don't throw the leafy tops away if they're fresh. Wash them well and wilt them in butter with a little garlic, the way you would chard. They were free with the beetroot. They deserve a moment of attention.
- •Malt vinegar is the traditional choice and gives the proper, slightly old-fashioned flavour you want here. The splash of cider vinegar softens it. Pure white vinegar is too harsh for this and tastes of nothing. Don't bother.
- •These are at their best between two weeks and three months. After that they're still good, just softer and a little less bright. Eat them through the winter and start again in autumn.
Advance Preparation
- •The pickled beetroot must rest for at least one week before eating, ideally two. They reach their best somewhere between two and four weeks in.
- •Sealed jars keep in a cool, dark cupboard for up to six months. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within a month, though they rarely last that long.
- •The spiced vinegar can be made a day ahead and left to steep with the spices for a deeper flavour. Strain just before pouring over the beetroot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 50g)
Calories
50 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
180 mg
Total Carbohydrates
11 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
10 g
Protein
1 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from British Preserves, Pickles & Chutneys
Browse the full collection
Chef Thomas
Blackberry and Apple Jam
Wild blackberries and a couple of cooking apples turned into jars of deep, inky jam, the kind that holds the taste of a September walk all the way through to spring.
Chef Thomas
Blackcurrant Jam
A dark, sharp, properly old-fashioned blackcurrant jam, made in one afternoon at the height of summer and good enough to make winter toast feel like an event.
Chef Thomas
Bramble Jelly
Hedgerow blackberries cooked down with a cooking apple, strained through muslin until the juice runs clear, then boiled with sugar into a dark, glossy jelly that holds the whole of September in a jar.