Spicy Dillys

It seems like every week my string bean pile gets bigger and bigger. It’s like the Little Shop of Horrors where the plant just keeps getting bigger and scarier by the day. With the CSA shares getting larger by the week, I’m finding less and less room in my fridge. I feel like at some point, my fridge door is going to bust open and a fountain of green beans are going to come pouring out in bushels.

In order to maintain my plethora of beans I had been accumulating, I decided pickling was the most delicious option. Or maybe that was my secret plan all along…mwahaha.

Sorry for the ugly photo, I was shooting in really low light.

I love pickle preserving because it’s crazy simple. It takes an hour tops and only require a little bit of time in front of a hot stove. This makes them extremely awesome because summer preserving can be quite the sweaty job. Plus, everyone loves pickled products so they make wonderful gifts!

There are A LOT of pickled green bean recipes out there so it’s always hard to choose the exact right one. So as an alternative, I decided to make my own with an added kick of heat. I picked up a bag of really spicy dried chilies from this little Asian market in our neighborhood for cheap, cheap! I knew they would be perfect. They will probably last me all year and only ended up costing two bucks. Yay for frugality! Plus one whiff of these babies and your clogged sinuses will be no more–they are hot stuff!

Creating a pickling solution is really easy. All it consists of is, 50% vinegar (of at least 5% acidity) and 50% water. In addition, you need to add some kosher, or pickling salt. Side note: it is important to use kosher or pickling salt in your brine because regular table salt will make your jars cloudy and vegetables soft. This recipe made 4 pints, so I used a solution of 2 ½ C. water, 2 ½ C. white vinegar, and 2 Tbsp kosher salt. It was the perfect amount and I had barely any brine leftover.

Again, low light...

Once you’ve created your pickling liquid, your free to add any herbs and spices you’d like into the jars. For these Spicy Dilly’s I placed 3 sprigs of fresh dill, 1 large clove of garlic, and 1 dried chili pepper in each jar. I debated putting in mustard seeds, but then decided that I’d keep it simple and save those guys for another time.

These dilly beans are great straight from the jar or you can also save them for the next brunch you host–they make a great addition to a Bloody Mary adding a spicy, crunchy kick.

Spicy Dilly’s
Makes 4 Pints

What You’ll Need:

2 lbs green beans, ends trimmed and cut to the length of the jar (feel free to incorporate white or purple beans as well if you have them on hand)
12 sprigs of fresh dill
4 large cloves of garlic, pealed
4 dried chilies
2 1/2 C. water
2 1/2 C. white vinegar (at least 5% acidity)
2 Tbsp pickling or kosher salt

Place water, vinegar, and salt in a nonreactive pot and bring to a boil.

In the meantime begin packing your jars.

In each jar place 3 sprigs of dill, 1 garlic clove, 1 dried chili, and 1/2 lb of green beans. Make sure your beans are standing up straight and packed tightly.

Ladle the hot brine into the packed jars leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Be sure to wiggle a chop stick around in the jars to remove any possible air bubbles. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Once they are finished processing, let the jars rest on top of a kitchen towel on the counter for 12 hours. Any unsealed jars you can store in the fridge and consume within 2 weeks.

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