Phyllis’ Famous Dilly Beans

September 5, 2012
|In Recipes
|By The Farmers

Luke’s mom makes THE BEST pickled vegetables and She was kind enough to share her recipe with me this year to share with all of you.

  • 1/4 C canning salt
  • 2 1/2 C white vinegar
  • 2 1/2 C water
  • beans
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper, divided
  • 4 cloves garlic (I use bottled)**
  • 4 tsp dried dill weed

The day before, weed out bad beans (curly ones and teeny skinny ones — don’t discard these beans — just freeze them instead). Wash and line up beans facing the same way, trim off stems. Try to cut to size of pint or quart jar, whichever you are doing. Arrange in bowl all facing the same direction (this makes it SO MUCH EASIER to load jars! Then all you have to do is grab a handful and load up. I find it easier to lay a jar on one side, but you do what works best for you). You want to make sure that you really pack them in tight, squeezing them in so there is really no room left.

For brine: bring canning salt, white vinegar and water to boil. Keep hot while filling jars.

Sterilize the jars (wash in very hot water or run through the dishwasher). Add dry ingredients and hot brine. Seal and screw on top and immerse jars in canner. Once the water is boiling, process for 10 minutes.

If I happen to have any on hand, I add either 3 or 4 thin sliced strips or rounds of sweet red pepper, just for the looks, and it does add a touch of pizazz.

**I used to laboriously peel Oxbow cloves and then I thought — I don’t think so — too much trouble — so I use bottled instead.

Each pint or quart jar takes about 40 beans, the quart size being the really long beans. This makes enough for 4 pint jars.