{"id":9098,"date":"2014-07-24T20:15:37","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T00:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.relishments.com\/blog\/?p=9098"},"modified":"2014-07-24T20:15:37","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T00:15:37","slug":"this-summers-first-canning-project-dilly-beans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.relishments.com\/blog\/this-summers-first-canning-project-dilly-beans\/","title":{"rendered":"This Summer’s First Canning Project: Dilly Beans"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have such a love-hate relationship with canning.  It\u2019s mostly love, I think, but it\u2019s so difficult for me to get together the motivation and organization to actually do it.  Part of the issue is that in my house, I don\u2019t can alone.  Canning is much easier when you have a second set of hands to help out.  As a result, the only time I plan to can is when Brian\u2019s available.  There\u2019s also the issue of accessing produce.  Yes, I just wrote a post about having too much leftover produce from our CSA<\/a>, but most canning recipes require multiple pounds of produce, not just an extra head of broccoli.  Since I don\u2019t grow my own and I don\u2019t frequent farmer\u2019s markets, I sometimes miss out on produce.  This is especially true of produce that isn\u2019t available at our farm at all; I sometimes don\u2019t even realize it\u2019s in season.  I\u2019ve also realized over my few short years of canning experience that we do not consume much of some types of canned goods.  Sadly, I\u2019ve thrown away jars that weren\u2019t consumed within the 1 year guideline.   We\u2019ve figured out what we like (pickles! blueberry jam!) and what we can skip (big batches of other jams, recipes that take a ton of prep work).  In short:  I never do as much canning as I plan to at the start of the season.<\/p>\n

And that is why I didn\u2019t do my first canning project of 2014 until yesterday.<\/p>\n

\"green<\/a><\/p>\n

One way to make sure I actually complete a project is to buy the ingredients.  So, last Saturday after checking out a number of tag sales, I stopped by the farmer\u2019s market at the Berkshire Mall<\/a> and picked up 5 pounds of green beans.  As always, the green beans seemed to increase in volume once we started prepping them for canning.  <\/p>\n

\"canning<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the tediousness of preparing 4 pounds of beans for preservation (yes, I purchased an extra pound), I think pickles are one of the easiest things to can.  The recipe I used this time around, from Food in Jars<\/a>\"\" , was cold pack, so I didn\u2019t have to cook anything but the brine (and the huge pot of boiling water).  Some of the jars got dill seed, garlic and red pepper flakes; others got fresh dill heads and garlic.  As always, I ran a little short on brine and ended up heating more at the last minute.  The good news is I managed to fit all of the beans nicely in the 10 jars I\u2019d prepared, which never happens.<\/p>\n

What did happen was that 2 of my jars didn\u2019t seal.  This happened last summer when we made blueberry jam and I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s causing it.  The lids we used were brand new and most of them sealed.  It\u2019s not a big deal, the non-sealed jars just went into the fridge to be eaten in a couple weeks.  It occurred to me afterwards that I could\u2019ve reprocessed them, which I didn\u2019t do with the jam because I was worried about changing it\u2019s consistency, but it would have worked here.<\/p>\n

\"canned<\/a><\/p>\n

So, there it is.  One project done.  I\u2019d still like to do blueberry jam, but I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019ll get the chance.  I also really want to revisit applesauce, which I\u2019ve failed at twice in the past.  We\u2019ll see!<\/p>\n

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