Pickled Green Beans / Dilly Beans / Canning 101

My first foray into canning: success!

Last year I took a canning class at my CSA. It was so fun that I went out and bought a water bath canner, which is basically a large pot with a rack. I received several canning/food preservation books from my mom for Christmas so I scoured them and one common recipe was Dilly Beans. I have never eaten dilly beans, but they sound good and I have a TON of green beans so I figured I’d give it a shot.

Remember what I said earlier about no rules? Well, the recipe I actually used was from The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food . But I’m posting it here because it’s almost identical to the Pickled Green Beans recipe in Simply in Season. It’s just a smaller yield which is great for beginner canners.

Here’s what I did, step by step:

Step 1: Fill large canner with water up to the fill line. Fill large stock pot with water and boil four pint jars in it plus the lids. Turn both burners on high.

Step 2: Gather ingredients. Snap off the ends of the green beans and rinse.  Put 2 1/2 cups vinegar, 2 1/2 cups of water, and 1/4 cup of salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Step 3: Remove jars from the boiling water and stuff as full as possible with green beans. To each jar add a clove of garlic, a head of dill, and 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. Add the liquid to each jar, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the tops and add the lid and screw top (being careful to not screw the top down too hard).

Step 4: Wait around for the canner to boil.

Step 5: Add the jars to the boiling water. Lower the rack. Wait around for it to boil again. Tell husband it will only be a few more minutes. When it starts to boil, set the timer for 5 minutes. Then remove from the water and put on a towel. Jump up and down for joy when you hear the “pop” noise which means they sealed.

This post linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays