Recently I picked my beets and pickled part of them. This year I tried a new heirloom beet called Cylindra. In the photo above you can see the two Cylindra beets on the left and the two Detroit Dark Red beets on the right.
Now I have grown Detroit Dark Reds for years and it is a good beet but what I like about the Cylindra is the shape. Notice it is long like a carrot and can grow to 8 inches long. This is great for pickling because you have all those uniform slices. And the taste and texture are wonderful.
You can't let a Detroit Dark Red get larger than say a baseball or it won't fit in a standard mouth canning jar. But these Cylindras because they grow long will give you more beet for the same growing space. Now because I have rocky soil I did grow mine in my raised bed.
Oh but look what beauties and I still have beets in the ground to can. And being an heirloom I am leaving some in the ground for seeds. So if you like canned beets I give Cylindra a good recommendation.
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
I've grown Cylindras for the last two seasons, and I agree with you! They are wonderful and so much easier to process.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about it that way - what a good excuse to try a new-to-me variety ;)
ReplyDeleteWe love beets here.. I'll have to remember to give them a shot..
ReplyDeleteLove your hay bale.. beautiful photo..