I made some last fall, and opened a jar just the other day. Still crunchy, tasted just like dill pickles.

Jessica

There is a Dilly beans recipe somewhere here. Once canned, they come out a bit soft, but not quite as soft as commercially canned beans. I made some from purple string beans and the color changes to green once the heat of the brine hits them. No precooking needed, just leave them whole, cut off both ends and place in tall jars, and fill with the boiling vinegar/salt brine. For the dillys, use some dill seeds and weed, but pack that at the bottom before cramming the beans into the jars. Just bought a big jar of the 4 bean salad. REmoved most of the sugary brine it contained, added some frozen waxed beans and some limas. Great as a side dish, or as a snack. With less sugar and more fiber, what more could you ask for..If you freezing them instead, cut them up, and blanch before freezing, as they have an odd flavor if they are not blanched first. My purples has a dark sediment at the bottom of the jars once they were pickled and the red color fell off. This year, I may try red noodle beans. These are supposed to grow 3 foot long..

Almost forgot. Pickle Crisp, made by Ball has helped keep pickles a bit more crisp. It introduces some calcium to the brine which makes the vinegar act slower when it softens the cukes of other pickled items.

I made the Emeril Rosemary Lemon beans last year. It was a last minute deal as I wasn't too sure about pickled beans. I tell ya, they are pretty dang good. I sit down with a jar and snack. Also have put them in egg salad with good results. Easy to make too. They are on my permanent list......

They're not quite crunchy enough to snap, but mine definitely make crunch noises when I get to the end of my bloody mary. Oh who am I kidding, I put in enough to eat them throughout the time it takes to drink the bloody mary! My cucumber pickles are sort of crisp, but a little "squirty" when you bite them, and for that reason I really like the dilly beans because they're much crisper. Try it! They're delicious in an Italian-style potato salad with sliced red potatoes, oil, vinegar, pickled garlic, and parsley.

Melissa

Oh my gawd that sounds delicious.

kristin

Kristin, they'll be crisp. Not as crisp as raw, of course, but much crisper than cucumber pickles. They are my daughter's absolute favorite pickles, I make both the dill variety and the lemon rosemary ones. She can't decide which are her favorite.

Annie

Something very similar...pickled asparagus. I made some spicy pickled aspargus this spring and they are nice and crunchy. Not as crisp as fresh, of course, but definitely not mushy. I can graze through a jar in no time flat!

I have a big bowl of chopped, boiled potatos in the refrigerator, ready for potato salad, and I can't decide what pickled item I want to dice and add to it tonight.

Indian relish
Pickled jalapenos
Pickled asparagus
Red onion relish (will probably go on the burgers we're grilling)
Pickled garlic

Decisions, decisions, decisions... I LOVE canning! This is such a neat experience!

Those all sound good, gardengrl. I'd go for the asparagus and maybe the garlic too!

Annie

Don't forget the marinated mushrooms!! Not with oil, but the vinegar and spices kind. I have two quarts that will be used this summer in cold pasta salads..

asparagus is going fine now. I could definitely try a small batch of pickled. What's your recipe? This isn't anything similar to the infamous California woman's pickled asparagus, is it?

I made pickled asparagus last year using three different recipes. The one that came out best was the Ball Blue Book Dilly Bean Recipe, subbing asparagus for the green beans. This year I'm leaning toward the rosemary lemon pickled bean recipe, just to see how it would be with asparagus.

Annie

Okay, who's got the Emeril Rosemary Lemon recipe??? Please share! :)

Rosebush,
Here is the link from an old post. They are delish!

Here is a link that might be useful: Emeril's Lemon Rosemary Pickled Green Beans

Thanks, Mommiegryl, I canned some over the weekend. Had enough lemons and rosemary left to cook some chicken too. Mmmm!

I wonder how that would do with tarragon instead of rosemary..

I'd be willing to try that. . . Still more beans to can. :)

I haven't tried the Emeril recipe - but I did a Euell Gibbons Crock Pot recipe - a mix of beans and other garden veggies that were just brined for several weeks then processed in BWB.

So perhaps this would be about fermenting them. I found it better to blanche them first (steamer 3 minutes) before putting in the brine. Also if using carrots, they also need some pre-treatment, as they actually come out too hard, to my taste at least.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Lately, I found the taste and texture of yellow wax beans to be more tasty compared to green beans, especially after freezing. This year, I planted bush type wax beans and enjoyed the first ones two days ago. Quite a change. I may also try a dilled wax bean soon.

Ken,
I bet tarragon would be great! I might have to try that... I use thyme cause I grow so much of it and they are wonderful!