beans, beans, beans

Last week, while my older two girls were at their ballet intensive, I decided to deal with my abundance of  green beans. (I always plant way more than we can eat)  My solution?  Canning and pickling them. My family loves pickled green beans -- dilly beans -- but I really dislike the price if I were to buy a pint.  They're typically $6-7 a pint.  Which we can eat in minutes.

Since I've never canned dilly beans before I decided to simply can 4 pints -- wait two weeks -- and see if we like them.  If they're a go, I'll can more. If not, I'll be searching for a new recipe.

Here are some pics from my canning experience.

Washing the beans

see the 7th Generation soap? 

I won that from Amanda at Popping Out One Letter at a Time

trimming the beans

packing the jars

all done -- now just waiting

(Just so you don't think I'm too crazy, let me reassure you that my two little boys were napping, and the older boys and Grace were outside.  So I knew I had about an hour to use.  All in all it probably took me about 45 minutes. Then my sweet neighbor girl comes inside and declares, "your house smells so so good -- like pickles!")

Do you can or preserve food?  If so -- what?  I'm finding that canning could become quite addictive.  In all my spare time, that is! (and could you tell me where to find some??) And have you tried dilly beans? 

Curious about my recipe?
It's from the Balls Canning Book.

Dilly Beans

2 lbs trimmed green beans

4 heads dill

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp cayenne pepper flakes

2 ½ cups vinegar

2 ½ cups water

¼ cup canning salt

Pack beans lengthwise in jars, leaving ¼ inch head space.To each pint, add ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 clove garlic, and 1 head dill.Combine remaining ingredients in sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Carefully pour hot liquid over the beans, leaving ¼ inch head space.Remove air bubbles.Adjust caps.Process pints for 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Yield – 4pints