PA State Beekeepers Picnic!

We spent a lovely afternoon on July 24 at Chatham University's gorgeous campus (my alma mater! Go Cougars!) for the annual Pennsylvania State Beekeepers' Association picnic, hosted by Burgh Bees and the Beaver Valley Area Beekeepers' Association.  In addition to the Apiary Products Judging Event (see below for shameless bragging about our blue ribbon!) the day included the ever-popular "just for fun" contest for foods and beverages made with honey. Debbie and John Gubanic's Pickled Beets won for the best canned product. (We entered our marbled brownies and won the "best exotic brownie" category--the, um, only brownie entered in the contest.)   When Debbie and John offered their beets and recipe to us, we greedily gobbled them up.  Here's a photo of (what's left of) the beets along with the recipe:

Debbie's Award-Winning Pickled Beets with Honey

1 bushel of beets, cleaned, root & stems trimmed, but leave some stem so that they don't bleed while boiling.

1 1/8 cup honey

3 cups water (use water beets were boiled in)

2 cups white vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Boil the beets in a large pot of water until tender (20-30 minutes).  Check with a fork and run cold water over them when done, removing skins.  Add honey and 3 cups water.  Then add the vinegar, cloves, allspice and cinnamon.  Bring all to a boil and gently simmer for 15 minutes.  Put beets and brine in sterilized jars and process in a water bath for 30 minutes.  One bushel of beets makes 40 pints and 4 quarts.

Shameless Bragging:  Our beeswax candle bowls won a blue ribbon!

We're pretty darn beeswax proud. :)