Ickle Me, Pickle Me
Ever since I first spotted spicy pickled green beans at the grocery store, I wanted them.
Once I saw the price tag of $8.99 a jar, I decided I’d wait and make them myself.
Until I found out this morning that pickled vegetables might kill me, I was really enjoying my results!
I did a simple quick pickle (what my favorite restaurant calls Kitchen Pickles) by slipping my young/fresh/slender green beans into the jars upright, tucking in a garlic clove and some of last year’s dried red peppers, plus some peppercorns, celery seeds, and dill springs for good measure. Then I brought my 2 cups water/2 cups vinegar/scant 1/4 kosher salt mixture to a boil and poured it over. Once the jars were cool to the touch, I popped them in the fridge. They are not preserved in the way proper canning would allow, but just a couple of days later, they were plenty good enough to eat. I don’t think there is any danger they will spoil before we finish the jars.
Try them next with some wasabi in the mix. Although I’ve had trouble with home-canned green beans ever since my sophmore science teacher’s horrific description of what could go wrong and how we’d could all die from botulism.
Oh, dear god, after today I may join you. But actually this kind of pickling doesn’t actually involve canning anything, so I think I may avoid one kind of death at least.
This is JUST like what I did in my Pickled Snap Peas [http://ringr.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/pickled-snap-peas/] – YUM, love it & cannot wait to make these with the green beans!