My dad's friend has a section of his garden devoted to beans just so he can make this every year. You can use this brine to pickle any veggie, but I like beans the best. For the best dill beans, use fresh-picked veggies.
Ingredients:
50/50 water and vinegar (at least 5% acetic acid)
1/2 c salt for every 10 c solution.
1/2 tsp whole mustard seed per quart jar
1/2 tsp whole dill seed per quart jar
about 5 peeled cloves of garlic per quart jar
1-2 whole dried cayenne pepper per quart jar
100-200 beans per quart jar
Equipment:
canning jars with new lids
equipment for washing beans
pot at least 2" taller than the jars on top of the rack
rack for supporting the jars in the pot
jar grabber for taking hot jars out of boiling water
Directions:
Wash your hands. Wash and boil (to sterilize) jars.
Don't boil the lids - it will melt the rubber lining. Don't touch the inside
of the lids and soak them in warm to hot water.
Wash and decapitate the beans. Boil the water, vinegar, and salt. Add the mustard, dill, garlic, and pepper to each jar. Pack each jar tightly with beans. When you've packed it as tight as you can, put a few more in. Cut off the tops of beans that extend into the neck of the jar to give a 1/2" headspace.
Pour the vinegar solution into each jar with a 1/4 inch headspace. About a pint of solution will go into each jar. Screw lids on tight. Place the jars in boiling water (fill to 1-2" above the jars, but leaving 1-2" of pot above that to allow for a rolling boil) for 10-15 minutes. The solution will expand and the air will escape from the headspace. The beans will shrivel slightly. Let the jars cool down naturally. Don't put the jars in cold water or they will crack! The solution will compress and form a vacuum, sealing the jar with a pop! If a jar cools to room temperature and the lid has not popped, re-boil it or throw it away.
Let the jars sit for several months so the beans can soak up the brine. When the beans look plump again, they're ready to eat!
Caution: If you find an unsealed lid on a jar that has been sitting out, throw it away. There is a chance that it is contaminated with salmonella or botchulinum. Salmonella will probably only make you sick and miserable. Botchulinum, however, is deadly, and can kill you fairly quickly after eating the contaminated food.