Thanks to the ranting and raving of various people, I have discovered a great new way to use all of those green beans and wax beans that I am harvesting at the moment. Over the past few years, when discussing preserving the garden harvest I have heard numerous people mention dilly beans and how much they love them. I must admit, the thought of pickled beans did not sound that good to me at first. At some point, however, I just could not ignore the fact that a LOT of people seemed to like these dilly beans.
When the bush beans started producing a few weeks ago, I dug out my canning books and looked for a recipe. I found several variations and decided to use the following simple recipe out of The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving:
Yield: about 4 pints or 2 quarts
2 pounds green beans
1/4 c. canning salt
2 1/2 cups vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
1 t. cayenne pepper, divided
4 cloves garlic
4 heads dill
Trim ends off green beans. Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large sauce-pot. Bring to a boil. Pack beans lengthwise into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Add 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 2 cloves garlic and 2 heads dill to each quart jar. Ladle hot liquid over beans, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints and quarts 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
I gathered up the ingredients, which are pretty basic.
I cleaned the beans and stacked them in the jars, trying to get a nice blend of green and yellow beans for color. Packing the jars is the most time-consuming part of the process. I then dropped in the garlic clove and shoved the dill head in along-side the beans. The finishing touch was to dump in the cayenne pepper. This is what really gives these beans a good kick!
I processed the jars for 10 minutes in a hot water bath, as directed.
And that’s all there is to it! It really is that easy.
We opened a jar after a couple of days to give them a taste to see if it was worth making anymore with our bean harvest. The results were surprising and like everyone had told me, these dilly beans are really dilly-icious! If you like pickled things with a bit of heat, go ahead and make a batch to try. You’ll be glad you did.
Just Two Farm Kids 
Thank you for the recipe! I used to make Dilly Beans years ago but have long lost my recipe. This recipe looks very good! I also like using a bright, pretty red chili pepper in mine.
One of my favorite things is canning! I have also made these dilly beans. I think the best canning cook book in the world is the Ball Blue Canning book. It’s my favorite! Next time try the Dixie Relish. Oh my! It’s delicious.
Thanks for the recommendation! I will definitely try the Dixie Relish, since I prefer to make recipes that people have already attempted and then recommend. And yes, the Ball Blue Book IS great!
I have never “canned”anything but I am going to try to do these this weekend. My other half does picked eggs and sausage I may have found a new healthy summer snack!
I made these this weekend. I am going to let them set until Friday before trying them. We have our first batch of chicks due to hatch this weekend and have friends coming for the weekend to witness the event. I think these and the pineapple salsa I made on Sunday will be great snacks for our Friday night “when ya gonna pip?” event.
My first canning adventure!