How to Make Pickled Green Beans, aka "Dilly Beans"

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A Relish Tray Menu Including Dilly Bean Pickles

For a winning relish tray, arrange:

Dilly beans
Red beet pickles, sweet or somewhat savory
Orange or yellow pickled carrots (use baby carrots or slender, tapered sticks)
Sweet pickle sticks (cucumber pickles)
Pickled onions (use baby onions, or thinly sliced rings)
Pickled cherry peppers, both red and green

This selection offers something for almost every taste, and has a wide variety of colors and shapes. If you have room for just three or four relishes, try the dilly beans, beet pickles, and sweet cucumber sticks...with whatever you like best coming in fourth.

Making dilly green bean, aka pickled green beans, is one of the simplest canning projects you can do. The almost addictive results are great for everyday use, or as part of a holiday menu. They are delicious for relish trays, or on their own, straight out of the jar.

To make dilly bean pickles, you will need:

1 or more lbs. of green beans per quart of pickles
Canning salt (contains no iodine, and can be found in the canning section of most supermarkets)
Vinegar (white is best, as it does not compete with the other flavors in the pickles)
Drinking quality water
Cayenne pepper
Fresh garlic cloves (minced pickled garlic will also work)
Fresh or dried dill seeds

You will also need basic canning supplies:

An enameled waterbath canner, steam canner, or suitable large pot with a rack in the bottom
Canning jars, either pints or quarts - Ball brand canning jars are very good
Jar rings and self-sealing lids
A jar lifter
A narrow spatula or something similar, for releasing air bubbles from the filled jars
A small cake pan or saucepan, to scald the lids in
Tongs, for lifting lids from the water
A draft-free area in which to let your finished jars cool
A towel to cool the jars on, and hotpads or oven mitts to help you handle them
A large saucepan or pot in which to heat the canning solution
2-3 hours of time per canner load

Step One - Preparing Your Equipment

Check jars for nicks, cracks, and other problems. Wash in hot, soapy water. Scald if necessary. Wash lids and rings.

Set lids in a small pan and pour scalding water over them, or simmer them slowly in a saucepan of water. DO NOT BOIL! Leave them in the water until you use them.

Step Two - Preparing the Green Beans

Snap the green bean ends, and remove strings as necessary. Discard any discolored, soft, or otherwise faulty beans.

Wash in cold water, swishing them about to dislodge dirt and other matter.

Drain a few minutes.

Step Three - The Recipe for the Pickling Solution, and Packing the Jars

For the solution, for every four pints of pickles, mix in a pot: 2 1/2 cups vinegar, 2 1/2 cups water, 1/4 cup canning salt. Bring to a boil.

Fill waterbath canner with water to cover filled jars by one inch, and set on to boil. (The stockpots are full of other things I was cooking.)

This much water is about right for a full canner (7 quarts, in this case) of quart jars.

Pack beans into jars tightly, but without crushing them. Small, curly beans will naturally fit differntly than varieties that are long and straight. Both pickle well.

A properly filled jar of French filet beans.

Put into each quart jar: 2 cloves of garlic, 2 heads of dill (about 1 teaspoon of seeds), 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper. For each pint, that's: 1 clove garlic, 1/2 teaspoon dill seeds, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne.

Ladle the hot solution over the beans, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles by running the spatula around the inside of the jar. Air can cause spoilage. Put on lids fairly tightly. (I used cider vinegar for this batch, as I ran out of white

Step Four - The Waterbath Canning Process

As you are finished with each jar, place it in a canning rack. You can warm your jars, and minimize damage to them, by locking your rack over the canner with the handles. This is all the beans I did in this batch.

Make sure your canner is really boiling hard before placing your jars into it. They will slow the boil.

Now they are in. Begin timing as soon as your canner is boiling hard again. Process pints and quarts for 10 full minutes.

When the time is up, lift the lid away from you to keep the steam from burning you, then lifte each jar out with a jar lifter.

Place on a towel away from drafts, to cool for 8-12 hours. After that, check each seal, and refrigerate or re-process any jars that did not seal well. To check seals: Press in center of lid; if it pops back, it's not sealed. If it doesn't, remove the

Home Canning Equipment

	Ball Home Canning Basics Kit 11102 Amazon Price: $65.99
	Columbian Home 0707-1 Granite Ware 21-1/2-Quart Steel/Porcelain Water-Bath Canner with Rack Amazon Price: $18.97 List Price: $29.99
	Back to Basics 286 5-Piece Home Canning Kit Amazon Price: $8.99 List Price: $19.95
	Back to Basics 400A 7-Quart Aluminum Home Steam Canner Amazon Price: $36.99 List Price: $59.99
	67000 Ball Qt Mason Jar WM 12-pack Amazon Price: $9.59 List Price: $17.70
	Primula Ball Jar Pack - Clear (16 oz), Case of 12 Amazon Price: $8.50 List Price: $19.99

Have you ever tried green bean pickles?

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Comments

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Ivorwen 2 years ago

Looks good. I just made my first batch of pickled beans last week.

ButterflyWings 2 years ago

Great! I'll bet they won't last long with a family such as yours. I tried to make enough this year that we can use them for everyday, and not feel like we have to conserve them for special times. I'll know by next March or so whether I judged right.

LiftedUp 2 years ago

I know what you mean, Butterfly Wings, about conserving my bean pickles. I like them with all sorts of things (they are absolutely fabulous with roast beef), but often choose to bring a different type of pickle from the cellar when I count how few of the Dilly Beans I have. Making enough to open a jar just because I feel like it sounds like a good idea.

ButterflyWings 2 years ago

LiftedUp, better make twice as many as you think you'll need, huh? I know as soon as I open a jar, my children are clustering around me, springing up and down, shouting, "Can I have some? Please!" It's hard to resist their delight.

jestone 2 years ago

I think I will forward this to my wife and maybe she will make'em!

Great Hub.

ButterflyWings 2 years ago

Jestone, best of luck! If she won't make them, maybe you can. :-D

pippi1815 20 months ago

how long can you store the beans for? Do you have to eat them right away or can you store them down your cellar for months before opening.

ButterflyWings 20 months ago

Pippi, you can store the beans for as long as the jars remain properly sealed. That should be almost indefinitely...several years, at the least.

Marilynn 8 months ago

Can I substitute pickling spice for the ingredients and just add the garlic cloves?

Dana 8 months ago

Thank you SO MUCH for posting pictures! As someone who didn't have the luxury of growing up in a "canning family" and witnessing the process firsthand, it is so helpful to have pictures of what I'm supposed to be doing! Can't wait to try these this weekend. You've given me confidence! ;)

ButterflyWings 7 months ago

Marilynn,

I'm sorry I missed your comment for so long. My own garden has kept me so busy I'm dizzy.

You can put any spices you want in, so long as you actually pickle the beans and follow proper canning procedures. You will wind up with a somewhat different flavor to your beans than if you stick to the given recipe, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. I have used beans in many pickle recipes, including curry, bread and butter, and mixed pickling spice. Also in combination with other vegetables.