Pickled French beans
40 min
This is an unusual pickle, pickled French beans are very good in a salad, well drained and dressed with olive oil. They will keep, unopened, for several months. Use one-pound preserving jars as they are just the right size for French beans. The easiest way to fill the jars is to turn them on their sides and fill them with neat stacks of beans. The cooking time for the beans will vary from 3 minutes for small tender beans to 5 minutes for slightly larger ones.
5 people made this
Ingredients
Makes: 2 lb pickled beans
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 900ml (1 1/2 pt) white wine vinegar
- 110g (4 oz) granulated sugar
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 6 black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons dill seed
- 900g (2 lb) fresh French beans, trimmed
Method
Prep:10min ›
Cook:30min ›
Ready in:40min
- In a medium sized saucepan, combine 1 teaspoon of the salt with all the other ingredients except the beans.
- Place the pan over moderate heat and bring the liquid to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, half fill another medium sized saucepan with water and bring it to the boil over a moderate heat. Add the remaining salt and the beans and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the beans are just tender. Remove the pan from the heat and drain the beans in a colander.
- Place the beans, upright, in clean, dry, preserving jars. Set aside.
- Remove the vinegar mixture from the heat. Strain the vinegar mixture over the beans up to the tops of the jars. Seal the jars and store in a cool dark place until they are required.
Tip
If you can't find the right size jars I tend to trim them to the size of the jars and put the trimmed pieces in a separate jar which means they are already ready for your salad.
