Dilly Beans! Either you are salivating right now or wondering what in the heck I'm talking about.
I, too, didn't know what Dilly Beans were until recently. My husband and I bought a jar of them from a local farmer (who has a certified kitchen and can sell her canned goods) and were hooked.
Dilly Beans are basically a dill pickled green bean. I've tasted two kinds: a regular pickled-type, and a very spicy picked type. Both were very good, but the spicy was awesome.
And since we grow oodles of green beans, I decided to try making them this year.
I perused my canning cookbooks and found two recipes. I decided to go with the Ball Blue Book recipe. It was very salty, but still delicious. Yes, I know, I was supposed to wait 4-6 weeks before eating them so the flavors could be maximized. But really? Wait? On Dilly Beans? It's just not happening in this house. Hubby already took a jar to work!
I made another batch recently. We were canning pickled jalapenos and had leftover brine and a few leftover jalapenos. I used that brine, and the recipe has significantly less salt. They were much better. Here is the recipe I came up with:
Dilly Beans
3 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
dill weed
canning/picking salt
Mix the brine. Place the beans into a clean, sterilized canning jar as shown in the picture below. When you've stuffed in as many as you can fit (leave 1 inch headspace), place a couple of sprigs of dill on top and sprinkle in 1 teaspoon salt per pint. Then pour the brine over it, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
You can eat them straight from the jar, and they are great on a sandwich.
And here is my most recent batch:
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