Ole Fashioned Beet Pickles - cooking recipe

Ingredients

8 qt. fresh beets
3 c. vinegar
1 c. water (red)
4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
a few of your favorite spices (if you desire)

Preparation

Wash fresh beets and leave an inch of the top stems so the juice will not cook out so much.
I sort the beets according to size and this eliminates overcooking of small beets.
Save a few cups of the red water the beets were cooked in.
Beets are tender when tested with a fork.
Drain off the hot water and cover with cold water until cool enough to handle.
Peel beets and cut off the stems.
Leave small ones whole, but large beets still need to be quartered.