Time to bring out the pickling recipes. I’m sorry I don’t remember where this one came from, but it’s pretty standard. The notes in the recipe are from the original (whatever that was!) source.
If you want to add a little sugar, that works, too. This one is so easy. No heating, just make a brine and then add the beans and seasoning. You could do the same with spears of squash.
Ingredients:
1 quart filtered water 2 tablespoons very finely milled sea or pickling salt 12 ounces green beans 4-5 garlic cloves, peeled and gently crushed 1 tablespoon dill seeds 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes (or more for a spicier pickle)
Preparation:
Combine the water and salt in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well so that the salt dissolves into the water.
Wash the beans and snap off the stem end.
Place the garlic cloves, dill seed, and red chili flakes in the bottom of a clean, wide mouth quart jar.
Pack the beans into the jar above the spices and cover them with the brine.
Set a weight on the beans (clean stones, pickle pebbles, or a quarter pint jar will all work). Set the jar on a small plate and tuck it into an out of the way spot that doesn’t get direct sunlight and is neither too hot or too cold. I just keep mine on the kitchen counter.
Let the pickles sit for about a week and then taste one. If you like the level of tang, then they are done. If not, let them sit a bit longer. I find that they are best when the beans have faded in color a bit and take on a uniformly drab olive color.
Once you like where they are, remove whatever pickling apparatus you set up, put a lid on the jar, and pop it into the fridge. They’ll keep for months in cold storage. You will have some brine leftover. You can use it for whatever other tiny batch ferment you’d like!