Canning Beans

Today is Monday, which means I should be blessing my house (cleaning it) and returning it to its' regular, somewhat clean, state after a weekend. Guess what, I really don't feel like it today and I've been really good at coming up with other, hopefully somewhat productive, things to do. For instance, right now I have the pressure canner going with 9 pints of beans- 4 white, 4 red, a 1 black. I've been meaning to can beans for awhile, but I keep putting it off. Today, it ranks higher than cleaning the house so it's getting done. After I'm done here, I'm going to make some oatmeal bread because I've been putting that off, too, and I thought it sounded good today.

There are two things I like about canning beans. The first is that it can be done in the winter time. That means I can heat up my house when I really want it hot, not when the A/C has to run majorly over-time to compete with the stove. Second, dry beans are so cheap, but take forever to cook on their own. Not to mention the fact that cooking them all day also heats up the house in the summer. Pressure canning them takes them from dry and hard to soft and ready-to-eat in less than 90 minutes total, if everything runs like it should. They're also sealed in a jar and can sit on my shelf looking pretty until I'm ready to use them.

This post has two purposes. The first is it gives me something to do besides pushing the vacuum or the duster or cleaning the downstairs bathroom. The second is that I have misplaced my recipe to can beans on several occasions before. Since I currently have it right in front of me, I'm going to post it here where I can always find it again. I guess a bonus for the readers of this post is that they, too, now have access to the recipe should they ever want it, and I know you've always wished you had it! So, enjoy!


Canning Pinto Beans (or whatever kind you like)
Prewash dry beans. Measure 1-1/3 c. beans into each of 7 quart jars or enough to fill your cooker. Add 1-1/4 tsp. salt to each quart and fill with boiling water up to the neck of jars. Adjust lids and pressure at 10 lbs. for 75 minutes.


See how easy that is?! I'm doing pints because I use that size more often, so I just put in 2/3 c. beans into a pint jar instead. My canner held 9 pint jars easily. It probably could have done 10 if I squeezed. I also don't like all the salt, so I just added 1/4 tsp. You could leave it out completely if you wanted. The only beans I think you can't do this way are garbanzo beans (chick peas). At least this paper has a different recipe for canning them. I've never used it because I don't use garbanzo beans enough. Let me know if you want it though, and I'll post it. Double bonus for you!