I have been doing beets up for years but today I was pickling my beets, onions, vinegar spices,etc., just as I have done for years and they actually look gray !!!! The only thing I might have done differently is cooked them in an aluminum pot. Does this sound familiar with any one out there ??? Would that have done this to the beets and the juice ?? Is it true what they day about aluminum pots ?? Thanks !!

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), November 01, 2000

Answers

Hi Helena, the aluminum reacted to the vinegar or visa versa. Personally, and I stress that this my opinion only-the beets may not be 'pretty', but if you have nice tight seals on the jars, they are safe to eat-have a candlelight thanksgiving!

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), November 01, 2000.

Helena, yes it is most definitely the aluminum pot you cooked them in, the acids react with the aluminum causing the gray color. I personally do not think they are safe to eat, all professional chefs avoid aluminum pots like the plague, can and does leach into your food, we do not need more aluminum in our diet, we already get more than enough from soda cans, foil, and other packaging. Aluminum is a soft metal, and leaches into food readily, most experts recommended throw away your aluminum cookware ( for cooking, use it for something else, or recycle it) years ago, now some advocate not using aluminum salt anti-perspirants, due to the fact we absorb things so readily through thin skinned areas of our body. I avoid all aluminum products, and aluminum salt anti-perspirants, Alzheimer's runs in our family and I don't need any additional risk factors. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 02, 2000.