whole pickled beets I had in UK. Recipe please!! peel easily with fingers. sooooo goood!

I am looking for a recipe... or rather method.. I don't know but I was in Edinburgh 5 years ago and while in a market came across a crate full of what looked like fresh beats.
When I grabbed one to put into a bag it was squishy! someone noticed my shocked look and said "they are pickled". I took another look and noticed that some of them still had little bits of dirt and even a pebble here or there.
I bought one and later wished I had bought more! The skin on the beats pealed easily with just my fingers. They were more earthy than pickled beats in jars and only slightly acidic. They were not really what I would call overly sweet. They were AMAZING!!.

I am hoping someone reading this knows what I am talking about and can tell me how they are produced.

When I prepare beetroot for pickling, I steam them whole in the pressure cooker and the skin just rubs off. It sounds as those the beets that you purchased may not have been pickled, the sweetness would have been from the natural sugars in the beetroot.

If they were slightly acidic, they may have been lacto fermented but it is unlikely that any pebbles would have remained embedded in them? What appeared to be dirt may have been blemishes in the skin.

You could try pickling some whole beetroot yourself in a lighty sweetened vinegar, just dilute the vinegar so it's not so sharp - I'd start with 20% sugar to volume of liquid, boil with whatever whole spices you like (I use black peppercorns, garlic, ginger & chilis) and taste it when the vinegar has cooled.

Leave for at least six weeks for the vinegar to permeate the beets. We always slice our beetroot so they stay in the jar but if they are whole beets, the seller may have decided to drain them and sell them loose.

Keep us posted on how you get on.