Beet That!

My gramma who was no cook invited her family to dinner every Sunday and for awhile we went there to dinner. My mother was a fantastic cook although not a gourmet kind and she berated, well after we left these dinners, Gramma's fare. "I will not eat another tough capon that has been boiled for twenty-four hours along with potates cooked earlier in the week and raisin pie with crust like a tire," she ranted at my father, on the way home in our old square Ford sedan. We continued to visit Gramma, but after dinner. What Gramma served along with cheese and raisins at those times, was pickled beets. And I learned to adore them even years later when I lived with her while going to college. I ate her capon dinners without complaint. Boarding students don't complain. They'll eat anything due to budget restraints. They're young enough to tolerate capons and thrice fried potatoes. The pickled beets, she still served, were the best thing on Gramma's menu. Of late, I took a liking to pickled beets once again, and did a bit of research about pickled beets. They are as most pickled things, high in pro-biotics due to the fermenting process. Dill pickles unfortunately, that I also love, are high in sodium and that isn't good. Beet pickles, however, are rich in their original minerals that are not destroyed in pickling process. In fact, while I adore small hot buttered tender baby beets on my plate, they aren't readily available all year, therefore, pickled ones will do. And do well. I have tried pickling carrots by cheating and putting them into dill pickle juice but with so much sodium in that brine, I will not convert to using other than the red pickle juice. Or perhaps, I will try making a pickling process that  works with carrot sticks and is low on sodium.  Can't beet that!