When you go away, the weather is beautiful, and the veg patch greets you with a surprise on your return!
I grow climbing beans every year, they generally produce abundantly right through autumn, they are perfect for braising in tomato sauce, but they are also fabulous pickled too.
Life’s been busy of late, with trips away for family celebrations, and my work commitments keeping me away from the patch. So whenever I manage to get down there, there’s always a good haul to pick and bring back up to the kitchen. There’s more than we can eat fresh, so I’ve been restocking my pickled bean supplies.
These pickled beans are a great staple to have on the shelf. They are a great addition to a salad, particularly bean salad, they also work well in sweet and sour and fried rice, and as condiment for cold roast beef, they’re even a tasty addition to a grazing board. I like to do them in small 180 – 250 ml jars, one of these jars, drained, is the perfect amount for most of these dishes.
So if you have an abundance of beans, and are wondering what to do with them, try this recipe. The beans retain a lovely texture, and flavour, and it is my preferred way of preserving them.
- 1 kg green beans, top removed and either left whole, or cut into 2-3cm pieces
- 2 tablespoons pure salt
- water
- 1¼ cup white sugar
- 1¼ cup cider vinegar
- 1¼ cup water
- 1 small bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon dill seeds
- ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
- ½ small garlic clove, thinly sliced
-
Place beans into a large non-reactive bowl, sprinkle with the brining salt and toss through. Cover with cold water, and then place a dry cloth over the bowl and allow to stand overnight.
-
The following day, drain the beans and discard the brine. Lightly rinse under running water.
-
Place the sugar, vinegar and water into a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
-
Add the beans, bring back to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
-
Remove the pan from the heat.
-
Into each warm sterilised jar, pack the beans together with the measured aromats, leaving a head space of approximately 1 cm from the top of the jar.
-
Return pickling mixture to the heat and bring to the boil.
-
Carefully pour the pickling liquid over the beans, ensuring that they are covered.
-
Use a skewer to release any air bubbles and top up with more liquid, if required. Seal immediately.
-
When cool, label, date and store in a cool dark place until ready to use.
-
Refrigerate after opening.
Great in salads, stirfries, with cold roast beef, and also on grazing boards.
Sterilising Jars for Preserves – I sterilise my jars in the oven set at 100˚C/212˚F. I place clean jars onto the oven rack of preheated oven and leave for a minimum of 15 minutes. To remove the jars from the oven I use either silicon tongs or a the handle of a wooden spoon, which works wonderfully, paricularly if you have your jars laying on their side. For the lids, simply place into a pan of boiling water.
ASIAN FLAVOURING ALTERNATIVE (per jar)
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely julienned
1 tsp lemon grass, finely sliced
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp mustard seed
4 black peppercorns
1 small garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Until next time…
Happy gardening and…
Bon appétit!
Links:
