Pickled Sour Long Beans – Liana Krissoff

Food writer Liana Krissoff wants to bring canning into the 21st century. Her cookbook Canning for a New Generation was recently rereleased in an expanded version, and includes over 150 recipes for canning, bottling, preserving, drying and freezing foods that reflect how people eat today. Her pickled sour long beans are inspired by her time spent in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood, where she often ordered them for takeout. “You can sometimes find imported vacuum-packed fermented beans,” she says, “but they’re so much better made at home from fresh – they stay firm and crunchy.”

Krissoff ferments the beans at room temperature in a salt brine spiked with chiles, and then stashes them in the fridge. “They continue to sour slowly over time; when they’re very sour, I dice them and freeze them in plastic bags, then dump them straight into the hot wok.” She notes that the purple and green kinds are interchangeable.