So I have been seriously slacking on the blogging front, but I have been canning an awful lot! The week leading up to Christmas found me elbow deep in green beans as I made a zillion jars of dilly beans for gifts this year. If you have never had dilly beans, I strongly urge you to give them a try! Little green bean pickles – impossible to eat just one! And really simple to make too.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of green beans

1 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tsp dill seed

4 cloves garlic

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups vinegar (5% acidity)

1/4 cup pickling/canning salt

Yield ~ 4 pints

1) Sterilize canning jars and prepare two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer’s directions.

2) Trim green beans so that they will fit standing up inside the pint jars. The straighter the beans, the nicer it looks in the end. But a lot of my beans were curvy and they looked just fine 🙂

3) Bring water, vinegar, and salt to a boil.

4) Meanwhile, into each pint jar, add 1/4 tsp of cayenne, 1 clove garlic, and 1 tsp dill seed.

5) Pack green beans into jars. You want these to be pretty tightly packed, but with enough room for the liquid you’ll be adding.

6) Pour boiling liquid into pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

7) Remove air bubbles and wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a Boiling Water Canner for 5 minutes.

Most recipes say to let beans stand at least two weeks before opening. I have to recommend four weeks 🙂 I tried them at two weeks and the vinegar nearly killed me!

{{and they are delightful in a bloody mary!}}