Kelly Rossiter
DCL
As you may know, I've spent the better part of my adult life promoting organic cotton, (if you wonder why that matters so much, check out this video from Environmental Justice). Friends in the industry agree that soon everything will be organic cotton and you won't have to look around. In the meantime, I can't think of any more important personal use for organic cotton than for women's feminine care. Organic Essentials has everything you and your daughters need without any of the very toxic pesticides.
And if you want to see more, check out my recent video blog exploring these and other items for teens and tweens.
It's not like I had such an abundance of produce from my garden that I was forced to put up pickles. But I've decided that I really like this preserving business, and I like lining up those little jars and seeing the fruits of my labour. I'm getting quite a cupboard full. I wanted to try my hand at pickles and given the fact that the only really successful crop in my garden was the green beans, that's what I had to work with.
I recall from my childhood jars of mustard green bean pickles that someone regularly put up and sent over to our family and I thought they were revolting. When looking for something appealing, I kept coming across those kinds of recipes and although I love mustard, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I finally found a simple recipe using dill and garlic that sounds like it will be wonderful. Of course, unlike the jam and the onion relish, I can't tell you what they taste like. I have to wait a couple of weeks for the flavours to infuse the green beans before I open them and have a taste.
These were very easy to make and didn't take long at all. I halved the recipe and it worked perfectly. I also used smaller jars than called for, but it didn't seem to be a problem. If you plan on making these pickles, check out the earlier post on the procedure for processing. You want to ensure that you have a good vacuum seal for your food and that will tell you how to do it.
Green Bean Pickles
2 pounds fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed
4 cloves garlic, peeled
8 sprigs fresh dill weed
4 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
1.Cut green beans to fit inside pint canning jars.
2.Place green beans in a steamer over 1 inch of boiling water, and cover. Cook until tender but still firm, for 3 minutes. Plunge beans into ice water. Drain well.
3.Pack the beans into four hot, sterilized pint jars. Place 1 clove garlic and 2 sprigs dill weed in each jar, against the glass. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to each jar.
4.In a large saucepan over high heat, bring vinegar and water to a boil. Pour over beans.
5.Fit the jars with lids and rings and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Difficulty Level: Easy
From the website All Recipes
