What do you do with 30 pounds of fresh green beans? At our house we turn them in to dilly beans. Dilly beans are pickled green beans and are delightful.
They come from my Mother's mother, and her sisters. Some of my fondest memories of my Grandma Rass are when her and my mom and their sisters would sit outside in the summer under the covered porch, snipping beans (snipping beans means to snip the ends of the bean off). I loved to listen to their stories and a bit of gossip from their little town, I always felt so grown up helping snip beans with the ladies. Now I am a grown up lady myself, I don't have a covered porch or a mess of Aunts and sisters to visit with, but I do have beans. -lets not mention it is the dead of winter-
My wonderful mom called on Monday to tell my that beans were 88 cents a pound at Sunflower Market. (no Megs I haven't gone to Sunflower Market yet) I went to go on Tuesday after Ru was out of school, but she got a sudden illness (for real) and we didn't make it to the beans. I asked my parents to get me some, just 20 pounds or so. But, they had 30 pounds in a neat little bin so they got me that instead. Oh MY WORD. What in the heck was I thinking?
I was thinking, that Mr Smith wanted to snip beans all afternoon. And he did. What a trooper.
He snipped while I peeled garlic and simmered vinegar and dill and stuffed beans into 27 wide mouth quart jars. It was a joy, I tell ya. The pink bowl is full of all the bean ends and we only emptied it 3 or 4 times. Really, what was I thinking?
Here is the simmering dill-vinegar with some jars of freshly snipped beans awaiting their turn in the steam canner. I don't have a picture of the steam canner.
And here are our beans. Don't you just love them? Well you should.
The happiest canning sound for me is when you have spent all day canning something, and you hear the "POP" of the jar sealing. Canning with my own Mom growing up, we would hear the "POP" and look at each other all excited like and say "Ohp, we got one." I called her tonight after Mr. Smith and I were all done canning ( until tomorrow), and when she answered all I said was "we got one".
They sure are pretty. Thanks Mom and Dad and mostly Mr. Smith. I love you guys.
4 comments:
You guys are great. What a massive undertaking! I can't wait to come visit this summer and have some dillly beans. I will appreciate them all the more! I love and miss you lots.
xo,
Tierney
What a girl, my girl, and what a guy, my girl's guy. Good work! Aren't they beautiful? I love it that you are so domestic, taking care of all your family's needs.
I'll let you know the next time I find a bargain. But...in the meantime...buy one box of lids every time you go to the grocery store. When you need them you will have them and won't be disappointed if the grocery stores are sold out in the height of canning season.
Loveyou'bye,
Mom
Here's what I know about green beans. I don't love them and it's my Mama's fault. We grew millions of bushels of green beans every year and I had to snap them all. I don't have warm fuzzy feelings about people helping me because they didn't. It was pretty much a Nazi bean work camp for about a month in the summer. Then the very worst thing was that Mama cooked them all to can. I don't love the smell of cooking green beans and I had to smell them everyday for a month. I think what really did it was the smell of the fatback (pig fat found on the back of the pig) that Mama cooked with the beans. So, I'm really glad you had a bean party at your house and not mine. I would be interested in tasting your pickely beans, though. I never had them like that before. loveyourguts, shan
Your friend Shan is a hoot. You should take her to lunch so she can recover from her Nazi bean camp.
I loveyerguts, too,
Mom, who taught you to can but forgot to do it in a Nazi way. Sorry you had a deprived childhood.
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