A jar of Amish Refrigerator Pickles from a Swartzentruber Amish family in Ohio

Do Amish families play games?

Yes, Amish families do play games and read together in the evenings. Parents are involved in their children's activities. However, there are not long evenings in an Amish family. When the children get home from school, there are chores that must be done. At an early age, children have responsibilities assigned to them. After the evening meal, the school homework must be tackled, and before long it is bedtime. Amish are early risers and therefore go to bed early.

Today's recipe... Remember... Disclaimer: The Amish don't always follow updated USDA canning methods, they follow methods passed down from generation to generation. Use this recipe at your own discretion, or adapt it to your own method. I am sharing these recipes EXACTLY as they were sent to me and take no responsibility for them.

Ingredients
* 1 cup distilled white vinegar
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 2 cups white sugar
* 6 cups sliced cucumbers
* 1 cup sliced onions
* 1 cup sliced green bell peppers
Instructions
1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil.
2. Boil until the sugar has dissolved, about 10 minutes.
3. Place the cucumbers, onions and green bell peppers in a large bowl.
4. Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables.
5. Transfer to sterile containers and store in the refrigerator.

Where I come from, some days we pick vegetables from the garden and get enough for a "run" and sometimes for a "mess."

Mr. G asked me once, "Exactly how much is a mess?" (he's a left-brain, analytical thinker and needed to know)

My answer, "Enough."

"Enough for what?"

A "mess" is enough of whatever vegetable you have... to serve for a meal... and have enough for everyone who is there to eat... so a "mess" can vary greatly... a "mess" for just Mr. G and me is much less than a "mess" for a family of 6... it took awhile to explain it to him, but I think he finally got it.

Recently I picked green beans from our little garden on the Ridge... I got more than a "mess" but not really enough for a "run" of pressure canned green beans (that would be a canner full, in this case 7 quarts of canned green beans is a run)... what to do?

I decided to make a few jars of Dilly Beans... a tasty, pickled green bean recipe...

Here's what I did...

I washed and sterilized my jars and lids by boiling them in water and leaving the water simmering while I prepared the ingredients.

In my large, stainless steel saucepan, I combined...

3 Tbsp. canning and pickling salt


3 cups white vinegar


and 3 cups water

I brought the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the salt.

I added about 4-1/2 pounds of green beans
and 3 small red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin strips... (at least that's what the recipe called for... I didn't have any red bell peppers but had a LOT of sweet banana peppers, I used banana peppers instead)
to the liquid mixture and returned it to a boil, then removed it from the heat.

(the recipe called for 2-1/4 pounds green beans and 2-1/4 pounds yellow wax beans, I didn't have wax beans so I used all green beans)

In each of my hot pint jars I placed...

3 peppercorns
1 sprig of fresh dill (or two, depending on the size of the sprig)
1 clove of garlic (or two, some of my garlic cloves were really small)


*Note: if fresh dill is not available, use 1/2 tsp. dill seeds per jar.


Next I filled my jars with the green beans (strung, trimmed and cut into jar-length pieces), trying to get them in vertically so they would look all pretty in the jars.


I ladled hot pickling liquid into the jars, covering the beans and peppers and leaving a half inch headspace. I removed any air bubbles and adjusted the liquid as needed.

Then I wiped the rims of the jars with a damp cloth.


And tightened my lids on to fingertip tightness.

I placed the jars in my canner, ensuring they were completely covered with water. I brought the water to a boil and processed them for 10 minutes. After processing, I removed the jars from the canner and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool... and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar!

The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving says... These delicious and zesty pickles can be used in salads, on relish trays, or as garnishes... mix a little salad oil with the brine after opening for a flavorful vinaigrette dressing.


 For a printable copy of this recipe click here.