Spicy Garlic Green Bean Pickles

A few weeks ago I bought a bag of pre-trimmed, pre-washed, ready to cook/microwave/whatever bag of green beans. In February I made pot after pot of soup, so I figured I would use the beans for more soup. But then the weather shifted and we had a few weeks of warm sunny days, and suddenly soup didn't sound like such a great plan.

The beans were looking a little rough around the edges and nearing their expiration date before I finally took action. NYT linked me to a recipe on Food in Jars so of course I spent way too many hours surfing through the recipes there before I stumbled onto the page for Dilly Beans. In the recipe's comments Marisa writes about preparing the beans as refrigerator pickles, and I thought "I can do that!" Real canning isn't really something I have the patience/equipment/skillz to get into right now, but refrigerator pickles are definitely within my reach. You don't even need to heat the brine.

One of the best things about these pickles is that when you finish eating your beans you can re-use the brine. After I (very quickly) ate my first jar full, I packed it back up with baby carrots, and waited impatiently for them to pickle. It took longer than the beans, around 4 or 5 days, but the carrots were almost as delicious. Crunchy and sweet, they turned the brine a pleasant shade of orange.

But I wasn't content with just carrots and green beans, I had to try some cucumbers of course. I threw a few spears in when my carrots were half eaten. I used an English, seedless, cucumber so the pickles weren't quite as crisp as I would have liked, though they tasted fantastic. I made a pint of cucumber pickles with this recipe as well. I subbed out the white vinegar for apple cider vinegar and upped the dill a smidge.

I'm already excited to try different combos of spices and vinegar and vegetables. I have another pound of green beans in the fridge that I might use on this recipe from Amateur Gourmet. And these refrigerator pickles from Lottie + Doof also sound amazing. In fact, I have a few Serrano and Jalapeno chilies grown by my Dad in the freezer that would be just perfect for both recipes.

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Spicy Garlic Dilly Beans

Aubrey Dunnuck
April 3, 2011

Crisp and refreshing, these beans are also ridiculously easy. Adapted from Food in Jars.

Ingredients

12 oz Green Beans3 cloves Garlic1/2 Teaspoon Dill Seed1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Seed1/2 Teaspoon Whole Peppercorns1/4 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes1 Tablespoon Pickling Salt1 Cup White Vinegar1 Cup Water

Instructions

Wash a mason jar with hot, soapy water.

Measure spices (not including the salt) into the bottom of your jar.

Wash and trim beans then pack, vertically, into your jar. Slip garlic cloves in between beans.

Mix together salt, vinegar, and water. Stir until salt is dissolved then pour over beans.

Refrigerate beans for at least 24 hours, I think they're best after about 2-3 days. Enjoy!

Note #1 I used 3/4 liter Le Parfait Jars, which is about the equivalent of 3/4 quart. So if you want to make a full quart of pickles I would up your volume of beans to about 1 lb and increase the vinegar/water brine a little at a time to fill the jar.

Note #2 These pickles are fairly spicy, so if you like things a bit more mild make sure to cut back on the red pepper flakes. You can always add more flakes to the brine later and wait a day for the extra spice to kick in.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 0 minsTotal time: 15 mins     Yield: around .75 liter / .75 quart of beans