Eingemakhts - Beetroot Jam

Eingemakhts in jars

Beetroot jam, like from the old country (Cheadle / der heim), is totally the taste of my childhood at Pesach.

I found this recipe (which I amended slightly for modernity) in Spoilt for Choice, the shul cookbook from Yeshurun.

Ingredients:

(I will convert this to metric at some point, but it seems fitting with the old country ways to be imperial, weight-wise).

Method

  1. Put the whole beetroots in a bowl in the microwave, in a small amount of water for 10 minutes. You may need to do this in two batches. Reserve the water.
  2. Peel the beetroots, and cut them into matchsticks. This takes a long time if you do it by hand.
  3. Put chopped beetroot in pan, pour sugar over, leave overnight.
  4. In the morning, the sugar will have turned into a syrup, and you're ready to start cooking.
  5. Grate the skin of two lemons (not the pith) and add this, plus the strained juice of all lemons, to the betroots and sugar
  6. Bring to the boil, and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours, ideally on a rolling boil (for jam), and keep an eye on it. If it boils over your entire kitchen is a sticky, red mess.
  7. Blanche the almonds - pour boiling water over them, leave for 2 minutes max, drain, and then slip the skins off the nuts. This is remarkably therapeutic
  8. Cut the ginger root into small cubes, and 30 minutes before the end, add to the pot.
  9. 10 minutes before the end, add the blanched almonds. 2 minutes before the end, add the powdered ginger.
  10. Test for a set on a plate you conveniently left in the freezer at the start - the jam should form a skin.
  11. wash and warm 24 1/2 lb (454g) jars (I buy these in Lakeland), and ladle the jam into a jug. Pour into the jars, seal with a wax disk and close the lid firmly. (This year I bought an easy-fill Jam funnel from Lakeland, which made my life a lot easier)

Allow a morning / afternoon for the whole process. This is traditionally a Pesach delicacy (although I suspect in Eastern Europe they just had a lot of beetroots in the Spring), which is why there is foil on my countertops, as I could only start my Pesach cooking once I'd changed to my Pesach pots and cleaned the kitchen. Don't even ask.

NOTE: I found that using disposable food-grade gloves meant my hands did not go pink, which I recommend.