Dilly Beans!

For my first Canning recipe (and an instructional guide on how to can!) I thought I'd teach you how to make Dilly Beans, one of my husband's favorite snacks. :)

These are super Keto friendly, with no sugar, just Vinegar, Spices, and Green Beans.

So, let's have some pictures, Hmm?

Yay!

Here we have our obligatory ingredients picture. What you see here are fresh green beans, whole cloves of garlic (I got mine peeled because I'm lazy), fresh dill, dried red pepper flakes, apple cider vinegar, and Kosher salt.

First thing you're going to want to do is prepare your jars. You can find a thousand websites that explain how to do it, but here's how I do it. I boil a big pot of water, and while that's boiling, I wash my sink. In one half I put all the jars, and in the other half, in a casserole dish, I put my lids. I fill the half of the sink with the jars with boiling water, then ladle some into the casserole dish with the lids.

 

 These are the jars I use, by the way. 1 Pint Balls.

 

 After preparing your jars, you'll want to set the Vinegar, water and salt on to boil. I use 2 quarts of vinegar, one quart of water, and 3 tablespoons of salt.

Ignore the splatters on my fridge. >.<

Bring that to a boil, stirring occasionally, until the salt is dissolved. Meanwhile, we're going to prepare our beans!

Delicious.

For each jar you will need a clove of garlic, 2 sprigs of dill, and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. Put a clove of garlic, cut in half on the bottom of the jar, with one sprig of dill, and the red pepper.

Fill with beans, then pack as many green beans in there as you can, keeping 1/2" headspace, followed by another sprig of dill.

Yes I drink soda. Don't judge me.

After you've filled your jars, we're going to fill them with the Vinegar Brine.

Once we've added the Brine, screw on the lids to "finger-tight", then prepare to pressure can them!

First, get your pressure canner, and put 3 quarts of water inside it. Place your jars on the rack inside, taking care not to overcrowd the pot. Once they're in, place the lid on the pressure canner. Turn it on high, and let it cook until a constant stream of steam is pouring out of the vent, then let it vent for 10 minutes.

I guess you can kinda see the steam...

After 10 minutes, put the weight over the vent, and watch the pressure build to 11 pounds.

Here we are at 6 lbs.

Aha! 11!

Moderate the heat to keep it at 11 lbs for the entire processing time. I process dilly beans for 20 minutes, but always always go with the directions listed in your pressure canner's manual.

After 20 minutes, remove the pot from heat. I have a gas stove so I just turn off the burner, but on electric you will have to relocate the canner.

Once it's removed from the heat, let it sit until the pressure gauge reaches zero, and the lock (if your canner has one) has dropped. Once it has done this, remove the vent cover/weight, and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Once 10 minutes are up, open the canner by pulling the lid toward you, so the steam vents away from you. Carefully, using your jar lifter, remove the jars from the canner and place them on a towel. Let them sit undisturbed for 12 hours, checking after 1 hour to ensure the jars have sealed. If they have not, put the open jars in the fridge and use immediately.

With Dilly Beans, after they've sealed, set them away for 2 weeks, until they've had time to pickle. Then share them, horde them, what have you. Just enjoy them!

List of Supplies for New Canners.

For are you canning beginners out there, here's a list of supplies you're going to need to start.

1) Jars. Don't ask me why it's called canning, but jars are the way to go. I personally prefer Ball Jars, but I've heard of other people using other types. I get my jars at the Ace Hardware next door to my grocery store, but you can order them online. 

2) Lids. The Jars come with lids, but you should only use a lid ONCE. Some people reuse their lids, but it can lead to illness as Lids can rust. And they're really cheap, so just buy more, ok? For your sanity, and mine, it's better not to worry over it.

3) A Canner. These generally come in two types, Water Bath and Pressure.

• Water Bath Canners are essentially large pots of boiling water. They are good for high acid foods, sauces, and jams.
• Pressure Canners use steam to reach high temperatures inside a sealed environment. These are good for low-acid foods, meat and fat products, and anything your water-bath canner cannot safely can.

As a tip, I have both, but I use my pressure canner for 90% of my Keto cooking. :)

4) Assorted Canning Supplies. While you can buy these individually, practically everyone I know has bought them in sets like these. You'll need to pick your supplies, based off of what you're making, your budget, etc. Here's a general list of what you need:

• Funnel: The jars will have a hard time sealing if there's stuff on the rim and in the threads. Get a nice, wide-mouth funnel to deal with this. 
• Jar Tightener: You have to tighten the lids before you seal the cans, but you've already boiled the lids to sterilize them, meaning they are crazy hot. A good jar tightener will help you tighten the rings without burning your fingers (or getting germs all over the lids)!
• Lid Lifter: This is a magnetic stick, and dual purpose. You use the magnetic end to lift the lids out of the boiling water so as not to contaminate them, and because boiling water and hot metal hurt to touch. The other end of it is used to swipe out air bubbles that can cause a jar to burst, or cause botulism. But we'll go over that in our "how to can" step by step guide. 
• Jar Lifter and Tongs: Like everything else here, touching things in boiling water sucks. These allow you to lift hot jars out of boiling water, and place hot things in boiling water. 

Some supplies you may want, but aren't required for EVERYTHING...

• Jar Gripper: Wet jars are slippery, so a nice hot pad with a textured surface is pretty awesome.
• Jelly Strainer: This is a strainer for making Jelly, in case you couldn't tell. It strains out all the fruit parts leaving the fruit juice :)
• Cooling Rack: A rack to stand your jars on after they're removed from the canner. I don't even have one of these :) I just use a paper plate with a dish towel over it.

Of course there are lots of other gadgets and doo hickies for individual projects, I'll mention them, and the ones I use, in each project. As far as my Canning supplies? I use a Presto 16 Quart Pressure Cooker and Canner. I prefer a Pressure Canner because very few Keto recipes are high acid enough to allow a water-bath canner. I have this 5-Piece Canning Set, as well. 

I'll go over how to use all these supplies and everything in the post outlining the basic processes of Canning, but I hope this helps when you're doing your shopping! :)

-Keep Calm and Keto On.