{Homemade Dilly Beans}

One of our favourite preserves from the garden are Dilly Beans. Every summer we make a stash of jars to last our family throughout the year, plus a few extras for gifting. The most likely way you’ll find us eating them is straight out of the jar when passing by the refrigerator, or on the side of our sandwiches at lunch. We always seem to be working our way through another jar of these vinegary treats– they are just so snackable and tasty!

The kids love to help with making them. (Their eagerness every year is probably the biggest reason I get it done!) We get a little assembly line going and tackle a batch relatively quickly between the lot of us. This time around we had two boys doing the trimming (cutting the ends off the beans to fit neatly into the size of jar we are using). I start them off with a ‘measuring bean’ cut to size for them to use as a guide. The other two kids get busy stuffing jars while I keep the show running on both ends with the washing of beans for them to use, brewing the pickling brine on the stove, and pouring/sealing the jars after.

The beans pictured here are our yellow beans from the garden, but the recipe works exactly the same with green beans. We usually have jars of both in our pantry, and the only real difference between the two is the colour. Yellow beans will actually hold their vibrant colour much better when cooked or pickled, whereas green beans turn to more of a drab olive (see colour contrast below), but both taste equally delicious.

At this time of year we sell both types of beans in bulk in our Online Farm Store purely for this purpose, so folks can preserve and enjoy them throughout the year same as we do! (The kids often help out with picking them too as pictured.) Below is our farm favourite Dilly Bean recipe for you all– be warned though, these pickles are addictive!