Instructions: Select small, young beets. Wash. Leave 3 inches of tops on and roots.

Cook until skins slip easily (about 15 minutes).

Pack beets into jars within 1/2 inch of top. Pour boiling liquid syrup over beets to within 1/2 inch of top of jar. Process for 30 minutes in boiling water bath.

After the beets have had time to "cure" (about 2 months), we then eat about 1/2 of the beets out of a quart jar, drop hard- boiled eggs into the pickled beet juice, and put into the refrigerator for about 2 weeks. By then, the beet color will have penetrated into the whites of the eggs nearly to the yolk area. Of course, a much simpler way would be simply to buy a large jar of pickled beets, eat about 1/2, and drop in hard- boiled eggs; then, refrigerate and leave for a couple of weeks until the beet juice has penetrated.

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