Beatrice's Icelandic pickled beets

1. Place beets in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cover with lid and simmer 40 minutes until beets test tender with fork. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Wearing plastic gloves, peel beets.

Fridge version:

1. In a small saucepan, bring water, vinegar and pickling spice to a boil. Cover and continue cooking for 15 additional minutes.
2. In your clean jars or in a large casserole dish, arrange alternating layers of beets and brown sugar. Cover with brine.
3. Cover with lid, and let cool. Transfer to fridge, and let flavours meld for at least 24 hours. The beets will be ready to eat then, though their flavour will intensify a bit with every day.

Safe-for-canning version:

1. Place 3 clean 500 ml mason jars on a rack in a boiling water canner. Cover jars with water and heat to a simmer. Set screw bands aside, and immerse sealing discs in hot, but not boiling water. Keep jars and lids sealing discs hot until ready to use.
2. In a small saucepan, bring water, vinegar, brown sugar and pickling spice to a boil. Cover and continue cooking for 15 additional minutes.
3. Pack beets into hot jars to within ¾ inch (2 cm) of the top. Add hot pickling liquid to cover beets, leaving ½ inch (1 cm) of headspace at the top of the jar. Cover with hot sealing discs, and then screw bands just enough to meet resistance (do not tighten all the way).
4. Return filled jar to rack in canner. Repeat for remaining beets and hot brine. When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. Boil filled jars for 30 minutes.
5. When processing time is complete, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed for 24 hours. DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.