All Hail the Queen of Pickling!

I have always loved  pickles-- of the dill variety!  Sorry gherkin lovers, gherkins are not real pickles and are Gross with a capital "G". 

Due to the warm summer and diligent tending by yours truly, we grew an amazing crop of yellow wax beans in our garden. I'm not sure why we grew yellow wax beans (I'm looking at you, Tom, purchaser of the seeds), because neither of us really like beans that much. And it turns out fresh yellow wax beans are not really that good, and cooking them only makes them marginally better. Even drowning those things in copious amount of garlic and butter only made them mildly palatable. 

BUT, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

The bean plants were literally the first thing that germinated in our garden. The last time I grew bean plants was in grade four science class when we were learning that plants need water, sun and soil to grow. So I made sure they had sun, water and soil, and these seeds sprouted like you wouldn't believe! 

First bean begins to sprout. 

A whole row of beans takes root. 

There was something very exciting about watching the bean plants grow. The leaves took over the back row of the garden, and they sent tentacle runners in all directions, looking for support and the best way to grow. Interestingly, the leaves of the beans shaded and protected the legumes once they started to sprout. I didn't even realize the beans were growing until they were already quite large. All you can see is a wall of leaves. 

Full grown bean plant vines. 

A wall of leaves. 

But when you pull back the leaves to take a look... 

Boom! Beans, beans and more beans! 

All the beans! 

My first harvest resulted in a huge crop of beans. I basically had to stop collecting them because my bowl was overflowing. 

First harvest. 

And these suckers were huge! They almost compared in length to a full sized butter knife! 

So very, very long. 

The beans came in all shapes and sizes. Some were long and straight, some were skinny and warped. Sometimes some very strange shapes would form if the beans grew near the intersection of vine runners. I would have to untangle them from the plant as I was picking them. So this meant I had all shapes and sizes to work with for my first EVER attempt at pickling. 

Washed, trimmed and stuffed with seasoning. 

The recipe I found here was fairly simple. It called for a vinegar, water and salt brine, dill, garlic and a chili pepper for a dash of heat. I washed and trimmed the beans, and then stuffed them into their appropriate sized jars. I filled 2.5L worth of jars with beans and seasoning!

After some heating and sanitizing, I added the brine to the beans, put lids on the jars, and boiled them in a hot were bath. After taking them out, it was fairly late, and I went to get ready for bed. The recipe had said not to touch the jars until they had returned to room temperature, and I tried not to get too anxious about checking if the jars had sealed (no one wants an unsealed jar of botulism-- am I right!?).  Sure enough, while I was getting ready for bed, I heard the very distinct (and incredibly satisfying)  "pop" of two of the jars sealing. I heard a third one as I fell asleep and in the morning the remaining jars were sealed as well. 

Round 1 - Pickling Success!

In light of my success, I deem myself the (very modest) title of, Pickling Queen! A week later we tested the beans by cracking a jar open. Not bad. They probably need more time to marinate, and future batches (which I already pickled when our second bean harvest was ready) could use more garlic and dill. 

Our next crops will be carrots and turnips. Will they be as fruitful as our zucchini and beans!?

Stay tuned!