Pickling Party!

This year I've really been getting into preserving. I've been busy making jams and jellies, and most recently spicy pickled beans. The one downside of preserving is the time commitment, especially with large batches. So, I came up with a solution - turn it into a party! The other week I invited 5 friends to come to my Pickling Party to share in the labour and the rewards. Since cucumber season passed us by, I choose to make Spicy Pickled Beans. As the hostess it was my job to buy all the ingredients and my guests brought their own jars and we divided the cost by number of jars at the end of the day.

I purchased all the ingredients (garlic, dill, cayenne pepper, pickling salt and vinegar) and ordered about 30 pounds of beans from a farmer at my local farmers' market, and washed them all before my friends arrived. As soon as everyone arrived, the assembly line began - sterilizing the jars, trimming the beans, packing the jars, adding the brine and processing the jars. On your own this takes quite a bit of time, but with good friends the time flies by. At the end of the afternoon we all ended up with 6 jars of delicious spicy beans just waiting to eaten in 6 weeks.