You can’t tell but there are 4 rows of green beans here. The far left row of Top Crop beans was just planted 4 days ago and the other three were planted on (Roma II) June 20, (TopCrop) May 26, and (Roma II) May 10
I picked a bunch of beans, mostly from the row of TopCrop beans I planted the end of May. (In case you didn’t know it there are 4 messes to a bunch and 4 bunches to a s*** load) A mess of beans would be enough for one meal so the ‘bunch’ I picked should be enough for several meals. I plan to make some of my Favorite Beans and possibly get a couple of pint jars of Dilly Beans canned.
My mom used to rave about Dilly Beans but strangely we never had them while I was at home. I wasn’t exactly excited about the prospect of pickled green beans so I never sought them out. Mom didn’t can but her mother had and that was where she had them as a kid. Since Grandma had quit canning long before I was born, I was never exposed to Dilly Beans. Last year while looking for things to do with the bags of beans I was picking that didn’t include plain old canned green beans (had plenty of those) I happened upon a recipe for Dilly Beans. I immediatly thought of mom who had passed in 96 and decided I just had to try these things. I made a small batch of 6 pints, adding a clove of home grown garlic, and home grown dill seed in each jar. They were so pretty with the beans all standing up in the jar like little soldiers. The recipe called for waiting several weeks before trying them. Finally it was the moment of truth. I opened the jar and tried one and I LOVE THEM. I can sit down and eat a whole jar myself. This year I swore to make more as those 6 jars didn’t last long.
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Dilly Beans
2 lbs green beans
1/4 cup of canning salt
2 1/2 cups of vinegar
2 1/2 cups of water
4-6 cloves of garlic
4-6 tsp of dill seed
I use long straight beans before the seed has a chance to form. The variety TopCrop is one example. Trim the ends off the beans. Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Pack beans lengthwise into hot jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace. Add the clove of garlic and dill seed and fill the jars with the liquid. Remove air bubbles and process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner. Yield 4-6 pints.
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