Pressure Canning Beans ~ Some Talk, Tips and Tutorials

"She went to the cupboard, looked thoughtfully at the contents of the shelves. A sack of beans caught her eye. Ah, that was the very thing."

~ Loula Grace Erdman, Excerpt from The Wide Horizon

My new favorite preserving adventures in the winter months are stock-piling my pantry shelves with a variety of beans. First off, it is very enjoyable to can foods in the chilly months (no sweat shop in your kitchen)! Second, home canned beans taste so much better in my opinion. Third, it is very convenient to have canned beans in the pantry (it is practically a meal in a jar)! And lastly, you can customize your beans to your preferences (such as pre-soaked for the stomach, size of jars and flavors). 

To begin, here are the tutorials I used and loved for learning how to pressure can and how to do beans specifically (both by The Prairie Homestead). With these excellent resources, my fear of pressure canning was finally removed and the fun began!

• How to Use a Pressure Canner Series

• How to Pressure Can Dry Beans

I also wanted to share some additional homemaking tips and ideas which I have learned along the way that may further benefit your bean canning adventures:

"Katie stood still, regarding those beans. Mama had always said that the excellent thing about beans was that they were so easy to cook. She wished now that she had learned the "so easy" way of cooking them."

~ Loula Grace Erdman, Excerpt from The Wide Horizon

Basic Pressure Canning Tips:

• If you have hard water, add a couple "glugs" of vinegar to your pressure canner water so that your jars don't come out with white filmy residue.

• There is no need to sterilize the lids or simmer them anymore. See this link for details.

"She started to slide the lid on the pan, then regarded it uncertainly. That looked like a mighty few beans. They wouldn't last for more than one meal... She went back to the sack, got out some more beans. She washed them, added them to the others. The pan was full to the top now and she felt better about the matter..."

~ Loula Grace Erdman, Excerpt from The Wide Horizon

Basic Canning Beans Tips:

• A large 16 quart stock-pot is "just large enough" to prepare 14 quarts of beans for your pressure canner (if your pressure canner holds 14 quarts of course). I soak my beans in the 16 quart pot overnight, drain the water, rinse the beans and add fresh water to cover the beans by a few inches before bringing to a boil and ladling into my canning jars. 

• To make 14 quarts of beans, you will need to count out and prepare approximately 20 cups of dry beans. I like to be on the more exact side so that I am not stuck with extra soaked beans at the end. If that does happen, you can freeze them and can them in the next session. Obviously, to make 7 quarts of beans, you would use half the amount of dry beans and so forth.

• Use wide mouth jars when canning beans for convenience. It is easier to remove them. However, when necessary, I have used regular mouthed jars plenty of times.

• Make sure your head space is proper (err on the side of less full) or you will have sticky jars with overflowed juice that may not seal. Pressure canned beans get really bubbly so I strongly suggest that you listen to the headspace requirement.

• Also, I do something called fake canning (you are about to see how frugal I can be). If I know I am going to want to use a few jars of my beans during the upcoming week, I will place a "used" canning lid (which I mark with a star or something) so that we can eat the prepared beans that week without wasting a "new" canning lid. {This tip is for the ultra el-cheapos out there like myself.} This just allows me some instant cooked beans but they do need storing in the refrigerator.

"When they went into the room they were greeted by a spattering sound... Katie did not need her sister's shrill voice to warn her. She herself could see the beans, running over the top of the pan, on the stove. They were sticking to the hot stove lid--the smell was awful."

~ Loula Grace Erdman, Excerpt from The Wide Horizon

I like to prepare my pinto beans with a bit of flavor so I add 2 teaspoons of taco seasoning to the bottom of each quart jar prior to ladling the beans into the jar. This makes for a tasty and still versatile bean (if you like extra spicy, add an extra teaspoon). Here are fourteen ways that we like to eat our pinto beans! 

For our black beans, I pressure can them in only water. I don't add anything to these jars as it fits better with the recipes I use them for. Here are our favorite ways to eat black beans.

And lastly, I have been experimenting with white beans (butter beans being my favorite). I also can these without seasoning and use them for this Alfredo recipe. They can be tossed into an impromptu salad. I also puree them and add them into baked macaroni and cheese dishes for extra protein. Making white bean dips is something I am trying out but haven't yet to find the right recipe. Perhaps you have one you would like to share or do you have some bean canning tips?

"And, of course, the beans in the pan on the stove, keeping warm... Bert went to them, raised the lid. "Oh, beans--" he said. He lifted the lid of another pan. "Beans--too." In rapid succession, he lifted three lids... "Golly!" he exclaimed in amazement. "Golly -- if she hasn't gone and cooked three pans of beans!"

~ Loula Grace Erdman, Excerpt from The Wide Horizon

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