Dilly Beans

I put up a batch of Dilly Beans the other day. I have never had these before, but the recipe sounded good so thought I would give it a try. The recipe calls for either a head of fresh dill or a teaspoon of dill seed in each pint jar. I went out to the garden armed with my kitchen scissors to snip the dill heads... once out there among my jungle of 4 foot tall dill weed, I realized that I didn't know what stage of dill heads is generally used. I was pretty sure that it wasn't dry heads with the seeds... but do I want dill heads still in bloom or with green seeds? Back inside I went to call Mom. Dill heads still in bloom was her answer. This will actually give more dill flavor than dill seeds, remarkably.

After cutting about two pounds of beautiful green beans into four inch pieces, in went the dill head, a clove of garlic and some cayenne pepper into each pint jar. Finished that off with the pickling solution and a water bath for ten minutes. I was surprized in that my new "So Easy to Preserve" Book called for processing in a water bath as opposed to pressure canning. I guess there is enough acid in the amount of vinegar to make it safe.

I will wait until Mom comes for her visit to give these a try.

Update: tried the Dilly Beans. YUM! The beans were nice and crisp and the cayenne gave it a real kick! Plenty of dill flavor and the garlic a nice background.