Once a month The North Grove’s Community Kitchen explores the ancient and amazing art of preserving food. In August, we made pickled beans (with beans grown on our Community Farm). For this recipe, we used the home canning method, which means you can easily replicate the process at home using the recipe below.
Makes: 6 jars
Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
1lb green beans
1 hot pepper (optional)
2 tbsp baking soda
5 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp pickling salt
1250ml white vinegar
500ml water
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp pickling spice
Directions:
Clean beans (and hot pepper if using) in a bath of 2 litres of water with 2 tbsp of baking soda. Rinse well.
Trim beans to fit into the jar.
Bring brown sugar, pickling salt, white vinegar, water, turmeric, and pickling spice to a simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugars.
Fill sterilized jars with clean, trimmed beans and hot pepper (if using). Pour hot pickling liquid over top, and agitate to remove all air bubbles. Fill to 1/2 inch headspace.
Refrigerate for up to 2 months or process jars according to home canning instructions to have shelf-safe preserves for up to 1 year.
*Keep an eye on our program calendar to see when we are doing our next home canning workshop!
If you want to share any photos of your cooking or have any questions please feel free to get in touch with Marlee at mlacourciere@thenorthgrove.ca.