Name: Dilly Beans
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 2 kg green beans ((washed and trimmed. About 4 dry quarts / 4 lbs)); 1 litre white vinegar ((5% acidity or higher. 4 cups / 32 oz)); 1 litre water ((4 cups / 32 oz)); 1 bay leaf ((per jar)); 1 teaspoon dill seed ((per jar)); 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes ((per jar)); 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed ((per jar)); 1 tablespoon pickling salt ((sic, per jar)); 1/2 teaspoon celery seed ((per jar))

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Once derided as a “tired old staple” of home canning belong to an old fogies generation, Dilly Beans (also known as Silly Beans), have become the new IT item, thanks to being adopted by the Hipsters for use in cocktails such as Caesars and Bloody Marys.

These pickled and dilled string green beans are very morish.

You can cut this recipe in half, if you wish.

We provide two versions: a regular version (295 mg sodium per ¼ jar) or a salt-free version (4 mg sodium per ¼ jar.)

Contents hide

1 Quantities of green beans needed
2 The recipe
3 Dilly Beans
- 3.1 Ingredients
- 3.2 Instructions
4 Reference information
5 Recipe notes
6 Recipe source
7 Nutrition information
- 7.1 Salt-free version

Quantities of green beans needed

Per ½ kg (pound) of beans, you will need 2 x ½ litre (1 US pint) jars

The recipe

Jar size choices: Half-litre (1 US pint / 500 ml / 16 oz) jars.

Processing method: Water bath or steam canning

Yield: 8 x half-litre (US pint) jars

Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)

Processing time: 10 minutes

4.27 from 15 votes

Dilly Beans

Yield: 8 x half-litre (1 US pint) jars

Course Pickles

Cuisine American

Keyword Beans

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Yield 8 x half-litre (1 US pint) jars

Calories 40 kcal

Ingredients

2 kg green beans (washed and trimmed. About 4 dry quarts / 4 lbs)
1 litre white vinegar (5% acidity or higher. 4 cups / 32 oz)
1 litre water (4 cups / 32 oz)
1 bay leaf (per jar)
1 teaspoon dill seed (per jar)
½ teaspoon chile flakes (per jar)
½ teaspoon mustard seed (per jar)
1 tablespoon pickling salt (sic, per jar)
½ teaspoon celery seed (per jar)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Top beans and trim them so that they are 10 cm (4 inches) long.
Combine vinegar and water, put on to simmer.
Pack beans upright into jar, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
In each jar put a bay leaf, 1 teaspoon dill seed, ½ teaspoon pepper flake, ½ teaspoon mustard seed, salt OR salt sub, ½ teaspoon celery seed.
Divvy vinegar pickling solution out amongst jars, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
If you are short of pickling solution, top up with pure vinegar.
Debubble, adjust headspace.
Wipe jar rims.
Put lids on.
Process in a water bath or steam canner.
Process jars for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
Best after at least a month of jar time.

Reference information

How to water bath process.

How to steam can.

When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.

More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.

Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.

Recipe notes

When packing the jars, have a pair of scissors handy. The bits of green bean that poke up too high, just snip them off and tuck them back in the jar.
A mix of green and yellow beans can be attractive.
Ball / Bernardin Complete Book (2015, page 308) adds a clove of garlic and 3 peppercorns per jar.
The USDA Complete 2015 (page 6-14), Ball Blue Book (37th Edition, 2014, page 92) and Ball / Bernardin Complete (2015, page 308) suggest a head of fresh dill per jar in lieu of the dried dill seed.
Dried dill strength: Ball Blue Book suggests 1 tablespoon dried dill seed per jar. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book suggests ½ teaspoon dried dill seed per jar.
The original amount of salt worked out to be 1 tablespoon per jar (½ cup = 8 tbsp, divided by 8 jars). You may wish to reduce that amount; that is there for seasoning. For our own uses here, we now reduce that to ½ teaspoon per jar. OR, use a non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub. We ‘d recommend Herbamare Sodium-Free .

Recipe source

Pickled Dilled Beans. In: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture information bulletin No. 539. 2015. Page 6-14.

Also consulted:

Dilled Beans. In: Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 308.
Dilly Beans. In: Ball Blue Book. Muncie, Indiana: Healthmark LLC / Jarden Home Brands. Edition 37. 2014. Page 92.

Modifications made:

Increased processing time to 10 minutes as per Ball / Bernardin Complete Book and Bernardin Blue Book so that jar doesn’t have to be sterilized separately;
Made dried dill seed the default instead of fresh;
Added bay leaf, mustard seeds, celery seed;
Added option for more vinegar to top up jars with;
Original amount of salt worked out to be 1 tablespoon per jar. Reduced it to ½ teaspoon.

Nutrition information

Regular version

Per ¼ jar:

23 calories, 295 mg sodium

Salt-free version

Per ¼ jar:

23 calories, 4 mg sodium

* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com

* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.

* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.