Finally, the pickles!

This is what started it all. And since we had no idea that we'd do anything with the story, we don't have pictures of the pickling process. But we had lots of fun staging the jars back on the Thanksgiving weekend, so please enjoy our artistry :)

Now, I wasn't involved in the initial conversation, so I may have to get Jess to update that part. All I know is that Mom called me asking if I wanted to make some pickled beans because Jess loves them and wants to make some. I have no doubt that the conversation likely went down a little differently from how it was presented to me, but I agreed anyway since it was getting to the end of summer I was just finishing up a couple university courses. I thought it would be a nice way just to have a chance to visit with my sister and my mom and we'd have something at the end of it all.

Well, turns out Mom doesn't really like pickled beans and didn't want to make any. However, my mom can't not help in the kitchen, so of course she was right in there. In fact, she was supposed to be sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her hair dye to process, but she's tossing out instructions to us about how to pack the jars and then HAD to unload the dishwasher at that exact moment. Yep, in the kitchen where we're trying to work, where we're moving around with hot vinegar, and with her hair dye still in. It was at this point that we all started laughing and Mom said we should start a blog because we'd have good stories. So thanks to Mom we got started!

For the pickles themselves, we did some general searches for recipes on-line and most seemed pretty similar so we kind of picked one in the middle. Lots of them suggested that you could pickle other crunchy vegetables, so we decided to throw some cauliflower and carrots into the mix. We also experimented with some having just plain pickling spice and some with chili flakes for a little kick. The beauty of something like this is that Mom has all the supplies we need, which makes it so easy to experiment with new ideas. She had the jars, the lids, the big pots, free beans and dill in the garden, even the salt and vinegar for the brine. I think all we had to buy was the carrots, cauliflower, and chili flakes.

Here's the general recipe we went with.
Brine:
- 2.5 cups vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup salt
Bring to a boil so that you can hot-pack your pickles and it should seal the jars. This is enough to fill two quart sealers, so we ended up having to make at least three batches of this brine to fill all the jars we had. Do NOT breathe the vapours in as it will burn your nose. I learned the hard way that hot vinegar is not a pleasant smell.

Vegetables:
- Green beans
- Yellow beans
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
Tip the beans to get rid of the stem and cut your vegetables into whatever size you'd like. Bigger pieces will take longer to pickle though, so keep that in mind. We did some jars with long beans, some as cut beans, and some with a mix of all the vegetables.

Fixin's:
- garlic cloves
- fresh dill
- pickling spice
- chili flakes

In our small pint jars:
Vegetables
1 clove garlic
1 head of dill
1 tsp pickling spice

The taller quart jars:
Vegetables
1 clove of garlic
2 heads of dill (one at the bottom of the jar, one packed on top)
1/8 tsp chili flakes

Clean the jars with hot soapy water and then rinse with hot water. Have your jar lids boiling on the stove so they are sterilized and the rubber is soft for sealing. There are lots of websites out there that can provide more specific details on canning if you need.

Put your Fixin's in the bottom of the jar, pack tightly with vegetables, pour the hot brine to 1/4 inch from the top of the jar, and put your lid on. Set them aside on the counter to cool away from any breeze, which could crack the jars. They should seal within a few hours as the hot brine cools down. We had one jar that didn't seal, so we just brought the brine to a boil again and poured it back in and it worked the second time. Then you have to let them sit for at least six weeks so they turn into pickled vegetables.

I found the beans aren't as crunchy as the cauliflower and carrots, but they're still good. The spicy version (in the taller jars) has just enough of a little kick but doesn't burn your mouth. If you like spicy, feel free to add some more chili flakes to your jar.

Enjoy!
~Lisa