Orange Pickled Beets

I get giddy when beets show up in our produce box. I love to eat them baked, roasted, boiled, and pickled. With so much going on in the oven today, I decided to pickle them in an orange-infused brine. The recipe below is for a beet bounty. I had only eight lovely beets in the box this month, so I halved the recipe and it worked perfectly. The leftover blue cheese and candied pecans I have in the refrigerator should do nicely to accompany these beets.

You need: 

20 fresh beets, tops removed
3/4 cup distilled vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 whole cloves
1 4-inch cinnamon stick
Peel of 1 large navel orange
1/2 cup orange juice

Place the beets in a stockpot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and simmer for forty minutes or until fork tender. Meanwhile, prepare pickling syrup. In 1-quart saucepan, heat vinegar, sugar, water, salt, cloves, cinnamon stick, and orange peel to boiling over high heat, stirring once to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Remove and discard cloves, cinnamon, and orange peel. Stir orange juice into mixture and heat to simmering. Meanwhile, wash and rinse one 1-quart or two 1-pint jars and their caps. Drain beets, then rinse with cold water. Cool beets until easy to handle. Peel beets and pack into jars.  Add pickling syrup to cover beets. Cover jar and refrigerate at least 1 week before serving. They'll keep at least 4 weeks from bottling time.