Pickled Three Bean Salad- All of my Favourite Things!

It's Summer!  Fresh green and yellow beans abound at the farmers' market.  Wow!  Bean salad is a go to salad all summer long.  Light, fresh, tasty and wonderful.

The thing about pickling a bean salad is you have to be careful of the proportions of vinegar, vegetables and beans so you can't deviate from the recipe.  Well, not so much anyway.  I started with a recipe from the sbcanning.com website.  Changed the vinegars (as long as they have 5% acidity, you are good to go) and the beans to make it my own.  They have posted two versions which I am looking forward to comparing.

After a morning at the Farmers' Market, it was a pleasure to work on this salad.  And it looks great in the jars.

This recipe made 7- 500 ml jars.




Ingredients
4 1/2 cups green beans, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
4 1/2 cups yellow beans, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 lb   mixed black and red kidney beans  (I cook them from scratch but you can use canned beans, drained and rinsed)
2 cups  sliced celery
1 2/3 cups of onions, thinly sliced
1 cup red pepper, diced
Boiling water
3 cups sugar
1.5  tbsp mustard seeds
1.5 tsp celery seed
5 tsp kosher or pickling salt
4 cups apple cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups water

Directions
Place the vegetables and beans in a large saucepan.  Add boiling water to cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Reduce and heat and boil gently for five minutes until the vegetables are heated through.  Drain the vegetables immediately and pack into the hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, combine the sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, salt, vinegar and water.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Reduce heat and boil gently for five minutes until spices have infused the liquid.

Ladle the pickling liquid into the jars to cover the vegetables, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles and fill the liquid to adjust.  Wipe the rims and add the hot lids and rings.  Process in a water bath for 15 minutes at a full boil.


WANNA PLAY?
Try different vinegars (remember the 5% acidity) or change up the beans (keep it to one pound total).