3 lb French green beans, ends trimmed (also called haricots verts)
3 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
1/3 cup pickling salt
1/2 cup minced fresh dill
1 head garlic, peeled
1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons dill seed
1 tablespoon red chile flakes
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Directions:
Prep 6 pint jars and lids. Whisk together the spices in a small bowl. Set aside. Bring the salt, vinegar and water to a boil. Meanwhile, stuff the warm jars with the green beans. The easiest way to do this is to lay them on their sides and fill them horizontally. Drop in one or two cloves of garlic. Evenly distribute the spices among each jar. Sprinkle with dill. Lightly shake the jars to help distribute the spices. Pour the boiling liquid into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process in a boiling water bath for 8 minutes. Allow to pickle for one week (at least!) before opening.
Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.
My thoughts:
I honestly had never had zydeco beans until I made these. I had first heard about them in a novel and they sounded great (Spicy pickled green beans? Yes, please!) but there aren’t exactly a staple here in Baltimore. So of course I had to make my own. I am not 100% sure these are 100% authentic but they are so delicious. Seriously, the best pickle I have ever had. I may or might not have eaten 2 whole jars in less than a week. I’m working on my third and honestly, I was sort of hoping that my mom wouldn’t like the jar I gave her so she’d give it back to me and I could eat them. Isn’t that horrible? Next time I am doing two batches. Or three. Maybe more.
So, what are you waiting for? Go make these pickles! They will keep for a year on the shelf but I hardly think they will last that long. They are great as a snack or as a drink or salad garnish. You can even use the prepped French green beans that some supermarkets sell and save yourself the hassle of cutting off the ends.
Those look delicious! Thanks for the tip:)
These look great. I love preserving stuff so I will try them out this week. Beans are in season here right now!
rachel, there is a recipe for zydeco beans in linda ziedrich's joy of pickling. i just canned 7 pounds of these yesterday. you came pretty close actually. we love, love, love these beans. i can them by the quart.
I love this idea; I've never seen such. We're canning and freezing all kinds of vegetables – including beans – but this would be a nice switch.
I have not heard of Zydeco beans before nor I have done successful canning alone before, so this will be a challenge as it is on my to-do list now.
I am impressed as you have created all recipes here. I do too, but lazy enough to write it down on a blog or take pics 🙂 Kudos
Okay you got me. Never heard of zydeco beans, but I have had dilled beans and tried to make them a few years ago, but they were not that great. I've got bunches of beans growing in my garden (the plants, not yet the beans). Maybe, I'll try this.
We made a batch of these last weekend and love how they look. Can't wait to taste them. I've posted your blog URL to the Harvest Forum on Gardenweb.com.
A new fav. Making them a second time.