dilly pickled green beans

I decided to make pickled green beans the other day. I had no idea what to do with all the string beans from our CSA and thought pickling them might be fun, and potentially tasty.

I was right on both accounts 🙂 (And if you think that trimming beans is more boring than searching for life insurance quotes, you’re wrong — its so relaxing! I could have done it all afternoon.)

I altered a basic "overnight pickle" type recipe to suit my tastes and just used the beans and carrots instead of cucumbers. They are so good I’m making more! Only I think I’m going to add more garlic to the next batch and less sugar. The were more on the "bread & butter" side in terms of pickle flavor. But yummy nonetheless. If you’d like to try it, here’s a starting point for you:

1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 Tbsp. peppercorns
1 tsp. dill seed
crushed red pepper flakes to suit your taste
fresh dill
sliced onions, carrots, and green beans (enough to pack the jar full)

Blanch beans and carrots in boiling water and immediately cool in ice water bath. Bring vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, peppercorns, dill seed, and pepper flakes to a boil. Meanwhile, fill a quart-sized canning jar with your vegetables. Pour hot vinegar mixture over them. Refrigerate at least 24 hours. The longer the vegetables are in the brine, the more flavorful they’ll be.

Of course this is not shelf-stable canning. That’s an art that I want to learn, but have not yet tried. I have memories of my grandmother canning vegetables from my uncle’s garden and even though I wasn’t doing that process while making these, it reminded me of time spent in her kitchen while she was canning green beans. I am honestly not sure how long these will last in the fridge. I think I read somewhere that they’ll last up to two months, but in our house anything pickled lasts for maybe two days, max. I hope you enjoy them if you try them yourself!