Last Wednesday I posted a picture of some beans that I had just canned.
Leigh had requested that I post how I did them. They are so easy it's ridiculous, so here you go. I use this method for all my dried beans because I can never remember to have them ready when I need them. It also works for all those beans that have been in your pantry for longer than you want to admit, and are hard as little rocks. I have way too many of them.
You start by rinsing and sorting your beans the way you would for any cooking. Next add 1 slightly rounded 1/2 cup of beans to each pint jar. Fill with warm (not hot) water and let them sit overnight.
Next you take a picture of your six year old because she's way too cute and wants to be in the post.
In the morning simmer your lids, start your pressure canner heating and boil a few quarts of water. Next, drain the soaking water from the beans. You can rinse them more if you're worried about the cleanliness of your beans. This is also the point where you can add any seasonings that you think might taste good. These are pintos and I added 1/4 t granulated garlic and a few turns of black pepper. Fill the jars with boiling water, wipe and cap. Then pressure can at 11lbs pressure for 60 minutes. If you want to do quarts, you would do 1 cup of beans and cook for 75 minutes.
Voila! You have convenience food. Since it's freezing out here, I tend to do this in the winter. All of my beans are depleted, so next on the agenda are red kidney beans. In my pantry I keep jars of red kidney, white, pinto, black and garbanzo (chick peas) beans.
I'll be linking this post to
Simple Lives Thursday.
Edit: This post has gotten quite popular on Pinterest. To answer a few questions.
1. I have used this same formula for many kinds of beans. Garbanzos, black beans, kidney and pinto beans to name a few.
2. Feel free to add meats and things if you wish. This is a processing time that will safely process meat and just about anything else you wish to add.
Thanks for your interest!
19 comments:
I am so glad that you posted this. I have really needed this information.
I'd love to have a pressure canner to do this. I never have beans ready when I need them. I keep some cooked in the freezer, but they aren't as tender as the canned variety.
That does sound simple! Now If only I like dried beans!
Becky, I'm glad you can use it.
Daphne, my pressure canner gets a real workout this time of year. I don't use it very much for the garden stuff.
Meemsnyc, I love beans. My family wouldn't be sad to see them disappear forever though.
Simple indeed, I may have to give it a turn myself. I have pressure canned many foods, but never beans, it's time I change that.
-Brenda
Daphne,
You can get baked beans as tender as Boston Baked beans if you do the humongously long baking thing. Hours and hours, adding water to the pot and so on.
B&M are so good I only did this once in my life, though.
Hmm. I have never even heard of pressure canning, but this sounds really neat. I hate buying the canned beans so I always just cook my beans on demand, but your way seems a lot better.
Wow. I would love to try this. I have a pressure cooker, pint jars, and lots of beans. What other things would I need to do this?
Brenda, now you have another use for your canner.
Katie, pressure canning is for low acid foods like meats, low acid veggies and the like.
Jackie, a pressure cooker isn't quite the same as a canner. Otherwise you wouldn't really need any more equipment.
This is a great idea. I love to make bean dishes and sometimes do ahead and freeze, but I love this idea better would rather save room in my little freezer for things that have to go there.
Thanks. for posting. Erin
Erin, it's nice to free up the freezer space.
Ahhh I knew there was a way to do this but I've never run across this information. I can tons of tomatoes in the summer but in the winter my canner sits on the shelf. THANK YOU for posting this!
Thank you for sharing this... I've canned everything available but never dried beans and we eat a lot of beans. Would eat more if they were 'at the ready'. I'm going to try this today!
Can I do this with mixed beans or does it have to be one style per jar?
Tomkat, it makes no difference if they're mixed beans. They all pressure can for the same amount of time.
What about for quarts?
Quarts would be done in the same manner. It would just be double the amounts of everything and would be pressure canned at 11 pounds pressure for 75 minutes.
I was so glad to see this post. I have been looking for something like this. Can you add some pork for seasoning, or do you do that later?
Mary, you can feel free to add meats if you wish. The processing times are safe for just about anything except fish.
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