Monday, June 8, 2009

Canning Green Beans and a Recipe for Pickled Green Beans

I like planting bush beans for canning, because they are ready for the harvest all at once and you can get the whole winters worth put up in a short time. Personally I think pole beans are nicer for eating throughout the summer rather than canning. In any case, whether you plant bush beans or pole beans, green beans or yellow beans, the canning instructions for them are all the same.


Canning Beans


Wash, trim, and cut beans to desired length. Fill hot pint jars with beans. Add 1/2 tsp canning/pickling salt (if desired). Add boiling water, leaving 1 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a pressure canner at 10 pound pressure for 20 minutes

For quart Jars, use 1 tsp salt ( if desired), and increase processing time to 25 minutes.

For Altitudes above 1000 feet, use 15 pounds pressure.


Pickled Green Beans with Garlic and Ginger

Though I wrote this recipe for pint jars, 12 ounce jelly jars work nice for gift giving. After canning, allow a couple of weeks for the beans to soak up flavor from the brine.

2 pounds beans (green, yellow or a mixture of both)
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
4 cloves garlic
4 slices ginger root

Wash beans and trim ends, Cut to length to fit the jar. For standard pint jars, the beans should be about 4 inches long in order to allow enough headspace.

Combine vinegar, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil.

Place one clove garlic, and one slice ginger root in each jar. Pack beans into jars. Pour brine into jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


6 comments:

  1. I've never tried pickled greenbeans! Do you eat them like pickles? Cold out of the jar...or do you heat them =)

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  2. You eat them like pickles. At Thanksgiving dinner, I like to have a relish tray with a large variety of pickled vegetables on it.

    Now that you mention the idea to me, I think I will have to try heating them and see what it is like.

    At one time in history pickling vegetables was more common, because it the only way to have vegetables in the winter time. The vinegar itself helps preserve the vegetabes, but today we also can them as an extra measure that our ancestors didn't have.

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  3. What a great recipe for the beans. I can almost taste them now. I have never canned veggies but I am growing beans this year and would love to try this one! Thanks!

    Hope you have a great week! Happy Canning!

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  4. In my mind's eye, I can see the rows of canned beans that my mother put up, both the green and yellow. She never pickled them though. I'll bet their good.

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  5. Hello Ms Charlotte!

    My Grammie just gave us her friend's extra green beans for canning. My Momma tries to cut back on salt because of high blood pressure issues. You mentioned that it could be optional. Does it matter?

    Ben is almost finished the canning book. He didn't find it as interesting for him personally. However, because of reading it,I think he realizes that we work hard when we can! :)

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  6. The only difference in canning it without salt is that it doesn't taste as salty. The quality is the same.

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