Author Notes
This was a staple condiment growing up. When my grandmother was 99 years old I called her from British Columbia and asked her for the recipe. It was a little of this a lot of that but I got it nailed. Goes great with turkey, beef, pork and freezes well in plastic bags. Great way to use up large beets in the late fall. —BARBARA MORGAN
Ingredients
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8 to 10
medium to large beets.
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1 jar
horseradish (use hot if you like it hotter)
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red wine vinegar to taste
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1/2 to 1 tablespoons
white sugar
Directions
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Boil beets in very large stock pot. Do not remove skins. It will take some time for the beets to cook. Test with sharp knife: if the knife slide into the flesh of the larger beets they are done. Then run them under cold water. You will know when the beets are cooked because the skins will just slip off when you gently massage the beets.
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Cut the beets up into portions that you can feed into the tube of your food processor. Use the shredding disc and shred the beets. As you process each batch, spoon it into a large bowl and shred more beets until they are all shredded. Once all the beets are shredded remove the shredding disc and insert the grinding blade into the bowl of the food processor. Grind 2 to 3 cups of the shredded beets at a time until they are a finer consistency like a relish. (My grandmother actually grated the beets but I use the food processor). You may have to do a few beets at a time. As each batch is processed spoon it into a large bowl.
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Now add a 1/2 jar of prepared horseradish. My grandmother refused to use prepared horseradish; she would get the horseradish root from the garden and grate it. Fresh horseradish is better but it is hard to find in the grocery stores. Stir the horseradish into the relish. (I usually use more horseradish but you can use as much or as little as you prefer).
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Stir in 1/4 cup of the red wine vinegar. Again it may take a bit more vinegar perhaps up to 1/2 a cup. Don't use too much or the vinegar will overwhelm the beet flavour.
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Stir in the white sugar. For people who don't use white sugar, the sweetness of the beets may be enough. I do however use some white sugar.
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Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or spoon the relish into a glass container with a good fitting lid. Let the relish sit for a couple of days in the fridge. Stir the relish at least every day to mix the flavour. Then you can store a portion in your fridge in a glass container with a lid. I just store mine in a lidded container in my extra fridge but my grandmother used to freeze it in plastic bags. I often present jars of this beet relish for friends to enjoy with their Christmas turkey. It is a wonderful condiment especially with prime rib or tenderloin.
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