Recipe Tuesday on Wednesday ~ Dilly Beans

I have to give some props to my friend Ashley. This is her mother-in-law's family recipe. She wrote about them on her blog here about a week or so ago and I had to try them. I would have done it earlier, but I couldn't find fresh dill until Monday. Next year I'm going to grow my own!

So yesterday I gave it a go. Not only are these really delicious, but now I'm totally fired up to do more canning this season. Yeah, you heard that right. I'm thinking that if I can get a few bushels of tomatoes, I might do some salsa, canned tomoatoes, and maybe even some spaghetti sauce.  I am certainly goint to try my hand at more pickled goodies...I might pickle some cauliflower and asparagus today in fact. Yummy. I made peach preserves a few years ago and it was soooooo good. I might try that again this year too. 

If you've never canned before, it's really easy and fun!  Just make sure that you have a pot large enough to cover the jars with water. 

Ashley's recipe makes approximately six pints.  I made 12 quarts, so I quadrupled the recipe. I ended up running out of beans, so be generous with them! Ashley grew her own (hello Martha Stewart!), but I didn't so it was back to the farm market for me.

Sorry for the blurry photo, I guess I was in a garlic induced haze yesterday, I didn't get one shot that wasn't super blurry. Some days are just like that.

Dilly Beans

6 pint sized mason jars with lids and rings

2.5 C water

2.5 C white vinegar

1/4 C kosher salt

fresh dill

3 hot peppers (optional...I used hot banana peppers)

6 cloves of garlic, peeled (Ashley uses purple heirloom garlic, but standard is fine)

2 lbs. fresh green beans

several large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

Prepare the jars by running them through the dishwasher, or bathing them in a boiling water bath. Remove and cool.  Wash the lids and rings and set aside.

Get a large pot of water big enough to cover the jars boiling on the stove.  

Make the brine by combining water, salt, and vinegar. Bring it to a boil so that the salt dissolves and set it aside.

Snap the beans, peel and chop the carrots, peel the garlic cloves, and set aside.  Cut the peppers open, remove the seeds and cut into halves.

Put a hunk of fresh dill, half of a pepper, and a garlic clove in each jar.  Stuff the jars with beans and a few carrots. Fill the jar with brine, leaving about 1/2" at the top.  Wipe the rim of the jar with a dishcloth, making sure that it's clean.  Put on lid and ring and tighten the jar.  Repeat for all jars.

Place jars into the pot of water and return the pot to a full boil.  Boil for ten minutes then remove from the pot and set aside to cool. When the jars cool, the lids should be concave if they've sealed properly.

If you're interested in doing more canning, there are a lot of great resources on the web.  Check out RecipeZaar, HomeCanning.com, Canning Food Recipes, and Recipe Goldmine for more recipes and ideas.

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My apologies that my guest blogger didn't make her appearence yesterday. It was the last day of summer vacation and she decided that she preferred to be outside playing with her friend rather than write. Maybe later in the week.....

Comments

[Amanda]

My aunt makes these and they are good! My aunt cans everything though. I still have nightmares about canning beans from my childhood. It seemed my summer visits were always during canning time.

[Jan Connair]

Barb, you little homemaker, you! Canning, of all things, is not a pastime I would have figured you for. More power to ya!

[Andrea]

I can still remember my mother canning tomatoes with which she would make THE BEST SAUCE IN THE WORLD.

The canning gene skipped over me. Like, WAY over.

[ckugrad]

Let's see, I have canned peaches, pickled zuchini and made pickles, made blackberry jam, peach butter, and stawberry jam. It is tasty!

[kristin]

I don't think I ever had dilly beans.

They look interesting.

Hey, are you joining the Chicago road trip?