Family Favorites...Home Canned Green Beans

Clockwise, Bottom R: Draining washed beans, 5 gallon buckets of beans,
Canners ready to go, Happy Results!
One of our favorite home canned vegetables is green beans.  They are easy to grow, usually produce abundantly, and don’t require peeling.  We often sit on our back porch to trim and cut our beans.  Be sure to wash them well – I use a plastic dish pan that fits my sink. 
I encourage you to pick and can the same day.  The quality is the best this way.  Picking and canning every day or two during the heavy producing season is easier than big batches.
 Don and Bonnie let us pick beans from their big country garden for these beans that we will enjoy all winter.  This is a simple recipe from Practical Produce , an excellent book on how to use your garden bounty; it is basically the same as the one in the Blue Book.  
I prefer to raw pack beans, although you get more in a jar if you hot pack.  Remember that low acid vegetables like beans must be pressure canned.  Review your equipment and refresh your methods by clicking HERE.
Green Beans
Raw Pack:  Wash and trim.  Cut into 1 or 2” pieces.  Pack tightly.  Add ½ tsp. salt to pints and 1 tsp. for quarts.  If desired, salt may be eliminated.  Cover with boiling water, leaving 1 inch head space.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust lids.
Hot Pack:  Wash, trim and cut as above.  Cover with boiling water, boil 5 minutes.  Pack hot beans into jar with slotted spoon.  Add salt as above.  Cover with boiling cooking liquid, leaving 1” head space.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust lids.
Process in a pressure canner; pints 20 minutes and quarts 25 minutes.
Process at 10# pressure for elevations up to 1000 feet above sea level, 15# pressure for elevations above 1000 feet above sea level.  
I use about 4 ½ to 5 pounds of beans for 8 pint jars or about 8# beans for 7 quart jars.
I use about 3 ½ quarts of water for 8 pints and 6 ½ quarts of water for 7 quart jars.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Sue,

    I am interested in learning how to can with a pressure canner. Do you have any recommendations for what sort of pressure canner to purchase? Thanks!

    Juli

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    Replies
    1. I have an All-American, a Mirro and a Presto 16 quart from Walmart. All of them have "jiggler" weights, which I prefer, because I don't want to be tied to watching a dial when I can listen instead. The larger Prestos have dial gauges and the weight is not calibrated for 5-10-15 pounds, so you have to watch the dial, which I hate. At our Iowa altitude (under 1000' but close to it) the weighted gauges work very well and your product won't be over-processed.
      Of these, I would keep the Presto first...it is fairly lightweight, the price is right, I can use it on my glass-top range as well as a regular range, and it does a good job. I've never replaced the gasket but they are available and not expensive at our local Ace Hardware.
      The All-American is great...but it's expensive, heavy, and more complicated to use, with the screw-down seals, etc. You have to oil the sealing surfaces to keep it from locking on...some folks have had trouble with that. It doesn't have heat-proof handles. That said, it will probably last forever, and it has both a weighted gauge and a dial, and doesn't have a gasket that needs to be replaced.
      The Mirro has a gauge that spews rust...not as good as the older models, and I couldn't recommend it because of that.
      All of these newer canners work on my glass-top.
      I guess I would buy a Presto from Walmart for my first canner...I had my first one for years until I passed it on thinking I was through canning...big mistake on my part!
      I think you would enjoy canning...it's a hobby that saves money if you garden and it's satisfying to just open that jar of meat or soup or stew for dinner without thawing and to see the jars on your shelves.

      Delete
  2. Thanks, this is just the info I need! I froze some sweet corn last weekend, am looking forward to experimenting with canning cooked dried beans and other vegetables!

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