Day 204 -- Dilly-Dallying With Veggies - Beans

I spent the morning with my friend and neighbor, T, and we paid a visit to my father's garden and with my father's help, came away with green beans, peas, beets, kale, onions, gooseberries, cabbage, and swiss chard.  We then stopped at a local orchard to check out their cherry harvest and as we were chatting,  I was telling Toni that she could pickle some of the beans we picked.  And right there, at the little orchard shop, was a jar of Dilly Beans.

In that past, I've done traditional canning, but I've found that for my purposes, refrigerator pickling is so much easier.  So I've hunted down a recipe for Refrigerator Dilly Beans.

Refrigerator Dilly Beans
2 cups of green beans
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
2 ½ tablespoons of sugar
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 ½ teaspoons of kosher salt
½ of a medium onion, sliced thinly
2 sprigs of fresh dill
½ teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
¼ to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (depending on how hot you want them) – you can also add a whole dried chili if you have one.

It's best to do the beans in a glass container, a large canning jar is best.  Make the brine.  Add the water, vinegar, salt, sugar, and garlic to a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn it off and set it aside to cool down to room temperature.

Blanch the trimmed beans. Do enough to pack into your jar with enough space at the top so that the brine can cover them completely.   Bring a saucepan of water to a full boil, then dump the beans in and boil them for thirty seconds. Drain them, and quickly add them to a bowl of iced water to shock them and stop the cooking process.  The beans should be brightly colored and still crisp.

Drain the beans and set them aside. Add your onions, dill, red pepper flakes, and peppercorns to your jars.  They look prettiest standing upright, but don’t worry about being perfect. The easiest way is to lay the jar on its side, or hold it horizontally, and place the beans inside.

Pour your brine in once it has reached room temperature. Fill the jar to 1/2 inch below the top of the jar, and put the lid on. Place the jar of dilly beans in the fridge, and let them sit for at least two days before eating them.  They’ll keep for up to six months in the fridge .

Tomorrow, we'll try Refrigerator Pickled Beets.