Pickled Green Beans

Pickled Green Beans

Green Beans are cold packed into the jars. 

They do not need to presoak in brine.

Pickles are processed with boiling water only, no pressure cooker is needed.

Equipment:

     Pot large enough to hold jars plus 1” of water at the top. 

     Canning jars – I generally use quarts but any size will work.

     Canning lids (new) and screw tops

Ingredients:

     Water

     White Vinegar

     Pickling Non-Iodized Salt (iodine adds a metallic taste)

     Fresh Hot Peppers

     Fresh Dill - seeds and weed ("leaves" are called dill weed)

     Fresh green beans - best to pick the beans early in the morning and pickle the same day

 

Make brine in the following ratio:

     3 cups water

     3 cups white vinegar

     2 TBLsp pickling salt

Heat pickling brine just to boil.  Keep warm.

Use exact measurements for the brine.  Too much or too little acid or salt can cause the beans to wrinkle or slough their outer skin.

 

Clean jars and lids.  Thoroughly wash in hot soapy water or run through a dishwasher.  
Inspect jars and lids.  Discard any jars that have chips or cracks.  Jars and screw bands can be reused but use only new sealing lids.

Pick and wash beans.  Break off stem end.

Pack warm jars very snugly with:

     1 or 2 peppers – whole or sliced

     1 or 2 sprigs of dill seed plus some feathery fronds, called 'dill weed'

     Beans – whole or in ~1” pieces

 

 The season for fresh dill is very short.  I harvest all our dill when the seeds are young before any bugs or diseases get to it.  I wash and trim the dill and freeze it until the bean harvest catches up.

Generally I half fill the jars with beans then put the peppers on the bottom before filling with beans and then put the dill on the top.  But it makes no difference to the pickles whatever order you put the ingredients into the jars.

Beans come in various sizes and shapes so I usually use several size jars - tall pints, short pints, 1.5 pints and quarts.  I lay out a couple handfuls of beans and place them in the jar size that fits them best.  

 

If you only have small jars, either trim the ends so the beans are shorter or cut/break them into pieces.

 

                   Fill jars to within ½ inch with warm brine.  
                   If the jars are not packed tightly, you'll need extra brine.

Wipe rim of jars with a clean, damp rag.
The rims must be completely clean so that the jar top seals well with the canning lid.

 Set clean, warm lid on and hold in place with a screw band.  Screw firmly but not tightly.

Place warm jars into canning pot.  If you do not have a jar rack, place several screw bands on the bottom of your pot for the jars to rest on.  If the jars are in direct contact with the metal pot bottom, they are more likely to break.

Cover the warm jars with warm water with 1” of water over the top of the jars.

Bring to a full boil and boil for 20 minutes.

Remove jars from the water and set on a towel or wood surface.  If you put the hot jars on a cold countertop, they might break.

Cool until room temperature.  Remove screw lids.

Test for seal.  The top of lid should be popped inwards and you should be able to lift the jar by grasping the sealing lid without it popping off. 

If any jar is not sealed, store the jar in the refrigerator and eat soon.

Wash all the jars and screw lids thoroughly with warm soapy water before storing.  This washing will make sure there is nothing organic near the seal that might support bacterial growth and interfere with the seal over time.  Screw lids are not needed for storing the jars. 

Label the jars with the date.  I use a sharpie on the lid.  Home processed foods generally should be eaten within one year.  Discard food that is older.

Gluten Free Flours and Other Ingredients

Gluten Free Flours and other Ingredients

BASIC GLUTEN FREE FLOUR MIX

    2 cups rice flour (white or brown)

    2/3 cup potato or corn starch

    1/3 cup tapioca starch

    2 tablespoons almond meal or almond flour 

BASIC GLUTEN FREE COOKIE FLOUR MIX

   1/2 cup oat flour

   1 cup rice flour (white, brown, or mix of the two)

   1/4 tapioca flour

   1/4 potato starch

   1/4 cup almond meal or almond flour

   1/4 cup sweet rice flour

CORN  FLOUR

Tastes like corn.  Cooks up dense so I usually mix 1 - 4 tablespoons of corn starch into a cup of corn flour.  I add 1/2 cup or so to a rice-based mix to alleviate some of the grittiness of rice flours

RICE  FLOUR

Not much flavor.  It has a grittiness and doesn’t work well by itself.  It is the basis for most Gluten-Free Flour Mixes. White rice and brown rice flours behave fairly similarly in recipes.

ALMOND FLOUR

Adds nut flavor to things.  No binding ability.  Contains a chemical element that is also found in wheat flour and will greatly enhance any non-wheat flour blend.  I always add 1 or 2 tablespoons to my GF blends.  It is the basis for my pie crusts.

XANTHAN  GUM

Xanthan Gum is from bacterial breakdown of different sugars.  It helps hold the baked goods together similar to what gluten does.  Without gluten, baked goods tend to crumble apart so much of gluten-free baking is about replacing the textural properties of the missing gluten.  Foods with a lot of gluten are very chewy, such as bagels.  Use approximately ¼ - ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum per cup of flour depending on the food (more for pancakes & cookies, less for layer cakes, none for biscuits).    Too much xanthan gum will make the final product rubbery. Guar Gum is a legume based product so if you have trouble with soy and other legumes, avoid it.

 

SWEET RICE  FLOUR

This has a binding quality that is less chewy than tapioca.  For chewy things like cookies, I usually put in a couple tablespoons.

STARCHES

Mix potato or corn starch with denser flours like oat and corn to allow the baked good to rise better.

Potato Starch is very light and will make the final product less dense.

Corn Starch is not as light as potato and not as chewy as tapioca.

Tapioca Starch is more of a binder and will add a chewiness.

BUCKWHEAT FLOUR

This comes from a flower – not wheat.  No gluten.  Makes things rather heavy.  No binding ability, Used to add flavor to pancakes or muffins in small amounts – up to ¼ cup.

COCONUT FLOUR

Adds mild coconut flavor to things.  No binding ability.  I often add 1 or 2 tablespoons to cookies, muffins, coffee cakes, carrot cake, zucchini & banana breads, and such.

EGG  REPLACER

Can be used in place of eggs or as a texture enhancer for any gluten free flour blend.  It is mostly starch but adds some additional leavening and adhesive texture.

BANANAS

Hold things together well.  Good for coffee cakes, pancakes, muffins, zucchini bread, carrot cakes, etc.  Sometimes in cookies.  

 

SORGHUM FLOUR

Like Buckwheat, it is not suited for light things.  Has a distinct flavor.  Makes things rather heavy.  I don’t particularly like this and do not cook with this.

BEAN  FLOURS - Chickpea, Fava, etc.

I don’t eat legumes so you’ll not see these in my recipes.  Also, they have a very distinctive flavor.

 

Blueberry Pancakes - Gluten-Free

Blueberry Pancakes – Gluten-Free

1 Cup flour – part corn flour and part Gluten-Free flour mix

2 TBLsp white sugar

1/3 tsp Xantham

1 tsp egg replacer

½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

½ cup milk – I use almond milk but any milk works fine

1 egg

2 TBLsp melted butter

1 ripe banana – mashed [optional]

1 +/- cup fresh blueberries - If using frozen, thaw them first.  If they are watery, decrease the amount of milk.]

Stir together all dry ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl. 

Mix in milk, egg and butter.

Add banana and blueberries.

With large serving spoon, drop batter into preheated heavy skillet.

Cook over low heat until bottom is light brown and then flip over.  Cook completely.

The banana is optional but it greatly enhances the texture of the pancakes.

 

Often, the batter is rather thick.  Sometimes I leave it thick – almost like a scone – and cook with a lid on the pan.  Other times I thin the batter with more milk or water.

We have three different varieties of blueberries – one early, one mid and one late season. 

The late season berries are the best tasting but the early season berries are ready in June.

We also have wild huckleberries that ripen in autumn and make superb pancakes.

Potato Salad in Pictures

Potato Salad in Pictures

For a medium amount – the four of us eat this much in two or three days.

Hard boil 6 eggs – 20 minutes.  Put in the refrigerator to cool.

About 4 pounds white or yellow potatoes.  Use small-medium sized ones.

Wash and cook whole in a large pot of water.  Cover completely with water.  Bring to a low boil and then simmer until the skins just begin to split.

Gently drain water and let sit until cool enough to touch.  They are rather fragile at this point and will split apart if moved around too much.  Plus they are hot potatoes!   

Let them cool for as long as you can.  The salad will be mushy if you make it while the potatoes are hot.  Optimally they are chilled completely in the refrigerator but I usually use them at room temperature.

Make the dressing in a small mixing bowl.

Chop four sweet pickles.

 

Add 3 or 4 heaping serving spoonfuls of mayonnaise - about 3/4 cup or more.   I use a standard serving spoon with a wide bowl that holds 1 TBLSpn when filled to the brim.  Mayo mounds up a lot.

Add two dollops of yellow mustard - about 2-3 tsp.

Judge the amount of mustard by color and taste.  

Add about 1 TBLsp of the sweet pickle juice.

Add about 2 tsp sugar (this is the first time my sugar has ever seen a spoon - usually I just sprinkle it in from a sugar bowl).

Add another tablespoon +/- of apple cider vinegar - I used red wine vinegar here so you could see it better and the salad tasted just fine.  White vinegar also works.

Mix well and taste.  Let the flavor spread all over your tongue so you can capture both the tanginess and sweetness.  You should note a mild vinegar tang with a definite mustard flavor and mild sweetness.  Now is a good time to adjust the flavor.

Add about 1/2 tsp salt and mix well.  Potatoes are very bland and need quite a bit of salt.

 
Put the dressing in the refrigerator to cool while you prepare the potatoes.

Peel the potatoes with a small knife.  For cutting you want to use a DULL paring knife.  I used a serrated one for about 20 years until it disappeared on a camping trip and was replaced on a later camping trip by this one.  It can't really cut anything and is perfect for the potato salad tasks.

As you peel the potatoes, place them in the largest mixing bowl that you have.  While you are peeling, the knife will get very sticky.  It helps to rinse off the knife and your hands in running water a couple times.

Cube the potatoes.  If the cubes are too large, you'll get bites of salad with bland, dressing-less potatoes.  If the cubes are too small, the salad is mushy.  I would err on too small rather than too large.

This is a fast way to cube the potatoes but you need a dull knife or you will cut your hand.  Depending on the size of the potato, first make two or three parallel cuts lengthwise.  Gently press the knife down until it touches your hand then lift straight up.  No sawing motion at all or it increases the likelihood that you'll cut your skin.  Sticky potatoes will try and come up with the knife but hold them in place with your thumb and fingers.  

Then turn the sliced potato 90 degrees so the slices are sideways and make one or two cuts.  The potato is now in long strips.  Some potatoes are dry and will want to fall apart.  Others are sticky and want to stay with the knife.  Just try and hold the potato into its uncut oval shape.

Then make the cross cuts to get the final cubes.  You can let the cubes fall into the bowl as you cut them off in slices.

  
Or just hold them all in your hand.

The cubes will tend to stick together so you have to break them apart a bit.

Cube all the potatoes and spread them out in the very large mixing bowl.  It is not worth the aggravation to try and mix potato salad in a small bowl.  If you don't have a large bowl, do this in a very large cooking pot or roasting pan. 

Sprinkle a thin layer of salt over the cubes

and toss gently with a large spoon to mix in the salt and separate the cubes.

Add some dressing and mix gently with some of the potatoes.  Test the taste of these dressed cubes and adjust the flavor of the dressing if needed.  If the flavor is 'flat', add more salt to the remaining dressing and mix well. If it doesn't look like you'll have enough dressing, at least add a little more mayo and mix well.

Add all the dressing to the potato cubes and mix well.  I usually start with a few 'cuts' by the spoon across the top then fold it together.

Peel the eggs.  Start by make a small crack then roll back and forth on a firm surface while cracking the shell completely around the egg.

At this point you can just squeeze the egg a bit and the shell should come loose easily.  If there are any bits of shell on the egg, just rinse it under running water and pat dry.

Cut the eggs twice in an egg slicer.  I find that this works better if you make the first cut the long way.

  
Then carefully turn the sliced egg to make the second cut.

Often the egg tries to escape as the wires are coming down and need to be gently held in place.

Once the second cut is started, you can hold the egg slicer upside down over the bowl and the egg will drop right into the salad

If you don't have an egg slicer, just chop the eggs into small pieces.  Spread the chopped eggs in an even layer over the potatoes.   Mix well by folding - starting at the edge, scoop up a spoonful and place it over the top in the middle.

Eat.

In the olden days, we used to fancy-up the salad by sprinkling the top with bright red paprika and/or egg slices.