Paige posing with the evening's haul
The other evening my neighbor Bill rode his 4-wheeler over to tell me that if I wanted green beans I’d better come over and get some pronto because they had more than they could handle. So last night, I moseyed across the road and up the hill to find his daughter Yvonne and wife Ellen bent over in their impeccably-tended garden picking their brains out. I joined in, and when all was said and done, we had picked 25 GALLONS of beans. That’s just this week’s pick, mind you. Buds are still on the plants so they can expect another load next week.
Ellen loaded me up with 5-7 gallons of the stuff, plus zucchinis the size of my forearm, 10 pounds of potatoes, radishes and crookneck squashes…and now I get to fantasize about what sorts of deliciousness I get to prepare with all this garden booty!
The first order of business: pickling the green beans. One of my all-time favorite summertime snacks—thanks to Ellen—is pickled beans. Specifically, her pickled green beans. I have yet to eat a better batch. They’re puckery, but not overwhelming. She gave me a jar last night, and Jake and I had polished it off not 20 minutes later.
Now I’m gearing up to make a batch of basil-pickled beans, followed by New Orleans-inspired Zydeco beans that are packed with lots of japones peppers. I’d better get moving….canning is a time sensitive operation, and my refrigerator can’t hold any more greens.
