It’s probably a fair question to ask why one would want to pickle green beans. But, for me, there are two pretty good reasons. First, if you have a garden, you’ll know that unless you have a very large family or you’re truly crazy about the vegetable, the few frail little seedlings you plant in May will produce more green beans in July than you could ever want to serve as a side dish. (Our scrappy little vines in Southampton seem to generate a new crop almost overnight.) Second, and more importantly, these tart and crunchy pickles are amazing in a Bloody Mary.
Another reason to pickle green beans is that it’s dead easy — there’s no need to sanitize or seal containers, and there’s no cooking involved at all. All you have to do it put a few common, inexpensive ingredients in a jar with your beans, shake it all up and leave it in the fridge for three days or so. Then, tuck three or four into a Bloody Mary and enjoy. And, when it’s not time for a cocktail, pickled green beans are a delicious an unexpected sidekick to almost any sandwich. (I particularly like them with grilled cheese.)
Recipe
(adapted from Karen Solomon, whose instructional and entertaining video on pickling beans can be seen here.)
Ingredients
Fresh green beans, enough to fit snugly into your pickling jar, washed and stemmed
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seed
1 tablespoon brown mustard seed
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper (optional)
1-2 tablespoons dill seed
1 cup distilled vinegar
Equipment
1 large mason jar
Instructions
1. Place all of the dry ingredients in the jar.
2. One by one, lay the green beans in the jar, fitting in as many as you can without forcing and bruising them.
3. Add the vinegar and then fill the jar to rim with tap water.
4. Close the jar and shake well to dissolve the salt and distribute the herbs and spices.
5. Cure in the refrigerator for at least 3 days before eating.
The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.
Here’s a fresh take on cooking, entertaining, decorating and other domestic arts and sciences from a real daddy living in New York and San Francisco. I’ve always had a strong domestic streak, but since my partner and I had our daughter Julia last year, I’ve learned to keep my projects simpler, faster and more fun. I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned, and I’d love to hear your ideas too.
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You should try watermelon rind pickles, they are fabulous.
Good stuff, and very much the way I do them. I’m founder/moderator for a site called Punk Domestics (www.punkdomestics.com), sort of like Tastespotting but specific to the niche of food preservation, i.e., pickling, jams, etc. I’d love for you to submit this on the site! Pickling is definitely trending hot right now.
YUM!!!!!! I’ll go for the bloody mary garnish.
1) Love your blog…just found it a few days ago. I’ve been looking for one like it since we got our little guy 6 years ago!
2) Just had so say hi since I spent 1/2 the day today making 9 quarts of strawberry jam and have my gherkins, beets and carrots ready for pickling tomorrow. (Yes, I’m the domestic one.)
3) I’m ordering the Mysore soap on amazon.com right now.
I just put a jar in the frig! (I did a jar with sugar snap peas while I was at it…) I don’t know if I can wait. I new reader here, and think your site is great!
And maybe I should proof before I hit submit– I’m a new reader here… I’m…
another great post, dd. i love pickled green beans as a bloody mary garnish; one of my fave brunch spots in boston serves ‘em that way, along with cracked black pepper around the glass rim…yum.
I cracked open my jar today for the first time! Delicious! Thanks for the inspiration!