A morning with Pickled green beans

Yeah I know I have a cupboard full of canned goodies now but since we open one almost every day :)  its time to make some more.  Actually when I went to the store this morning to get ingredients for my Chicken soup I saw a HUGE bin of beautiful looking Organic green beans and knew I was going to have to pickle some today.  So I got two pounds. YUM YUM.
I thought it might be fun to actually document the process so that's what I did and will just have to post it here. 
The Recipe I used for my brine is the Pickled Goodness Recipe I posted earlier.  

So here is MY step by step

1.  What I will need

White vinegar,green beans, canning pickling salt, fresh garlic, Dill, measuring cup and other canning tools (the blue things up front)

A large pot. (BIG BERTHA)  Just a fun tidbit I have had this pot for like 5 years and have used it for almost everything you can imagine except canning... go figure.  It has been a rain collector, a clothes wash tub, a hot water pot for the wood stove, a kitchen sink, and even a baby bath tub once.

2.  Prep time

wash, trip and cut up the green beans and get rid of any age spots or soft beans.

Cut up the green beans, into smaller pieces.  I have canned beans before and was always told to keep them full length but found that it was a pain to make them all the same size and even after packing full had lots of room left in the jars after they are canned, so I have decided to try and make them smaller pieces this time in hopes of putting more in the jars. 

3. Mix and boil the brine.

You want to use stainless steal pot I guess, at least that is what I have read on other canning sites.

3.  While that is cooking you want to wash your jars (even if new) in HOT soapy water.  I wash them in the dishwasher then wash them by hand as well.  This is my least favorite part of canning but important step you should never skip.

4. Get your Canning pot ready and fill with water enough to cover your jars and keep them HOT. 

5. keep you lids in a hot simmering pot of water also

6. Peal the fresh garlic and get the Dill ready to place some in each of the HOT jars.

7. Now everything is ready.  Put one clove of garlic and dill in jar and pack full with green beans.  Cover the beans with hot brine leaving about 1/2 inch of headspace at the top. Remove the air bubbles and top off add more liquid if needed. 

Removing hot jars from water.

Removing air bubbles.

measuring 1/2 inch head space.

Putting on the hot lids, then you want to put on the rings and hand tighten.

one on left had no liquid and the one on the right is ready to go in the pot.

OH NO ONE LONELY JAR LEFT AND NO MORE BEAN WHATEVER WILL I DO?

How about some canned carrots :) .. Just added some baby carrots to the still boiling brine for a bout 3-5 minutes, fill the last jar with some garlic, dill and a lil green onion, and woohoo problem solved.

Place the filled jars in canning pot and cover with water.

I marked a butter knife with a 2 inch mark and filled water 2 inches above tallest jar.

8. now is the most time consuming part.. "A watched pot never boils", you want to bring the pot to a full rolling boil then start timing for 10-15 minutes.  When time is up let it stop boiling, remove lid, let jars sit for a couple of minutes then remove and place on a towel or a wooden cutting board.  I have heard to always let them sit and cool for 24 hours before you test the seals, but you will start to hear the lil "PINGS" of the lids sealing while they cool.  This is one of my favorite part. 

After 24 hours (if you can stand to wait that long) remove rings and test the lids, they should be concave and impossible to remove by hand.  I always have to use a lid opener to get them off if they are sealed correctly.

9.  Wait a couple of days (again if you can wait that long) and try a jar, the longer they sit the better I think they taste.  ENJOY.

 Now they are finished :)  Good enough to eat.

This post is dedicated to Dragon and his need for spacific directions... "Is it clear enough now?" 0.o