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Making and canning your own pickled dilled green beans is one of the easiest things you can do with your green beans to preserve it for later use! Here's how to do it, in easy steps and completely illustrated. This method is so easy, ANYONE can do this! It yields 8 to 9 pints.
It's
fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality green
beans!
At left is a of picture green beans from my garden - it is SO easy to grow.
It takes about 1/2 lb of green beans to fill a pint jar.
I'm sure you can figure out how to wash the fruit in plain cold water.
You will need to cut the ends off (about 1/4-inch).
The
dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sanitize" cycle.
I get that going while I'm preparing everything else, so it's done by the
time I'm ready to fill the jars. Be sure to let it go through the rinse
cycle to get rid of any soap! It's also a good time to start heating
up the water in the canner and the small pan of water to boil the lids.
Lids: put the very hot (but not quite boiling; around 180 F,
steaming water is fine)
water for at least several minutes. Note:
everything gets sanitized in the water bath (step 7) anyway, so this just
helps to ensure there is no spoilage later!)
Need lids, rings and replacement jars?
Get them all here, delivered direct to your home, at the best prices on the internet!
Fill jars firmly with whole green beans, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Note: you can use quart or pint jars; this recipe assumes quart jars are used.
Just take a sharp knife and cut of both ends (about 1/4 of an inch,
or half the width of an average woman's little finger). Then cut
them into pieces of the size you prefer, usually about 1 inch long.
Of
course, if your prefer French cut green beans, you can cut the beans
lengthwise instead, or you can use a "bean Frencher". The "Frencher" enables you to prepare a huge quantity of
beans, split lengthwise, quickly!
See the bottom of this page for makes, models, prices and ordering info for bean frenchers.
Put 1 or 2 dill heads in the bottom of each pint jar (double it for
quart jars), 1 garlic clove (optional) and then the beans (placed upright
in the jars, like pickle spears). If you are using whole small hot
peppers, you will add one each jar now.
This is called "raw packing" because we don't cook the beans before
packing them into the jars. Pack the jars fairly tightly, but be sure to
leave 1/2 inch of space at the TOP of the jar. That is called
"headspace" and is needed for expansion during heading.
In a pot heat the 4 cups of 5% white or cider vinegar, 4 cup of water, 1/2 cup of canning salt (or pickling salt) and, if desired to make a medium hot pickled bean, include 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if you want them, and didn't use the small whole hot peppers). Heat to a boil.
Use a ladle or pyrex measuring cup to carefully fill each packed jar with the hot vinegar solution. Fill to within 1 inch of the top. The beans should be covered and there should still be 1/2 inch of airspace left in the top of each jar. Be careful not to burn yourself, (or anyone else - children should be kept back during this step!)
Put the lids on each jar and seal them by putting a ring on and screwing it down snugly (but not with all your might, just "snug").
Using
the jar tongs, put the pint jars in the canner and keep them covered
with at least 1 inch of water. Keep the water boiling. Boil them for 5
minutes. Remember to adjust for altitudes and larger jars - see
the table below!
Processing time for Pickled Dilled Green Beans in a boiling-water canner. |
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Process Time at Altitudes of | ||
0 - 1,000 ft | 1,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 6,000 ft |
5 minutes | 10 minutes | 15 minutes |
Lift
the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping
them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then
remove the rings if you like, but if you leave them on, at least loosen
them quite a bit, so they don't rust in place due to trapped moisture.
Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that
the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your
finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not
sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still
use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, then that's a
bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid)
and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.
When can you start eating the green beans? Well, it takes some time for the seasonings to be absorbed into the pickles. Generally, that's about 2 or 3 days! Ah... the wait...
From left to right:
Home Canning KitsThis is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother used to
make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and
spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts
for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a
plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball
Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll
never need anything else except jars & lids (and the jars are reusable)!
There is also a simple kit with just the canner and rack, and a pressure canner, if you want to do vegetables (other than tomatoes). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here! |
Summary - Cost of Making Homemade Pickled Green Beans - makes 8 quart jars, 16 oz each* |
||||
Item | Quantity | Cost in 2022 | Source | Subtotal |
Green beans | 4 lbs | free from the garden, or $3.00 cents at a PYO | Pick your own | $3.00 |
Canning jars (quart size, wide mouth), includes lids and rings | 12 jars | $8.00/dozen | Grocery stores (Publix, Kroger, Safeway, etc.) | $8.00 |
Vinegar | 4 cups | $0.99 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$0.99 |
Pickle mix | 1 packet | $3.00 per package | Grocery stores (Publix, Kroger, Safeway, etc.) | $3.00 |
Total | $15.00 total or about $1.08 per jar INCLUDING the jars - which you can reuse! |
|||
* - This assumes you already have the pots, pans, ladles, and reusable equipment. Note that you can reuse the jars! Many products are sold in jars that will take the lids and rings for canning. For example, Classico Spaghetti sauce is in quart sized jars that work with Ball and Kerr lids and rings. Note that the Classico's manufacturer does not recommend reuse of their jars: see what they have to say on this page: |
Type of pickling method |
Jar size | 0 to 1,000 ft above sea level | 1,001 to 6,000 ft above sea level |
Quick process, (raw green beans put in the jar, hot liquid poured over them)- | quart | 10 min | 15 min |
Quick process, (raw green beans put in the jar, hot liquid poured over them)- | quart | 10 min | 15 min |
What did I do wrong if my pickles aren't crisp or
crunchy?
You probably used overripe cucumbers or didn't measure the vinegar and water
accurately. Of course, processin gtoo long in the boiling water bath can do it,
too!
Why are my pickles cloudy?
There are a variety of possible causes for cloudy pickles:
In nonfermented pickles (fresh pack), cloudiness might indicate spoilage. Yeast growth may also make pickles cloudy or slimy. Check the pickles for signs of off-odors and mushiness of the pickles. If yeast growth is evident, discard the pickles. If these signs are absent, the pickles are (absent other problems) safe to eat.
Be sure to use a NON-metal pot - or a coated metal (teflon, silverstone, enamel, etc.) without breaks in the coating. the metal reacts with the vinegar and makes the pickle solution turn cloudy. This is the most common cause of cloudy pickles. There is no danger to these pickles, though!
Sometimes the fillers (anticaking agents) in regular table salt may cause slight cloudiness, so always use pickling salt. Obviously, if you used a packet mix (like Mrs. Wages) this should not be a problem.
Hard water might also cause cloudiness. If soft water is not available, boil the hard water and let it sit undisturbed overnight. Pour off the top portion and use it in the pickling solution.
In the UK, use this link:
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Bean "Frenchers"It is tiring and laborious to prepare green beans for canning; there are so many of them and you do them all by hand. But wait there's a new device that makes it easy. Hmmm, actually, these devices have been around since our great-grandfather's day! Here are several different types and makes, some hand fed, some cranked: choose the one that meets your need and budget! For photos and features of the bean frenchers, click here!
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Above is the
2020 version of
the Ball Blue Book