Dilly Pickled Green Beans

• 4 Lbs of Green Beans (approx)
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (per jar)
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds (per jar)
• 1/2 tsp dill seed (per jar)
• 1 garlic clove (per jar)
• 5 C vinegar
• 5 C water
• 1/2 C Salt

1. Clean your green beans & cut them to fit in your 1pt canning jars.
2. Put pepper flakes, mustard seeds, dill seed, & a garlic clove into the bottom of each jar.
3. Pack raw beans into jar. Make these as tight as you can, they will shrink when they cook.
4. Boil together the vinegar, water and salt-this is your brine.
5. Pour enough brine over the beans in each jar to cover completely while still leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. (that's empty space between the top of the food and the rim of the jar)
6. Wipe rim clean, then add lid and tighten. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
7. Wait a minimum of 6-8 weeks before eating. They need to "marinate".

One of the great things about this recipe is you can just make it with however many beans you have on hand-you don't have to wait till you have 4 lbs exactly, or worry if you have 6 lbs instead. Just fill up jars until you run out of beans, then make the brine. If you have left over brine go ahead and refrigerate it for use later (you have to reheat it to boiling of course). I you don't have enough brine make some more.

Found On: Frugal Upstate