Monday, May 12, 2014

Canning - No Pressure Green Beans

All my canning skills were developed by a group of church ladies in Virginia who had lived off the land for generations. I took their word as gospel and lessons learned from them have served me well for 30+ years. They did not use a pressure canner for green beans so I don't either. If you have any questions about safety, please refer to this LINK.
Green beans are as simple to process as they are to cook. So here's the way it goes...get out your canning supplies and set the process in motion:
  1. Sterilize jars, rings and lids and start heating water in your canning pot and bring a large, second pot of water to a boil.
  2. Start with fresh, beautiful, unbruised beans. (You will need about 1 lb. of beans per quart)
  3. Inspect each bean, cutting off both tips, removing and blemishes and cutting in bite-sized pieces. (If the beans have strings, it is better to snap off the ends, pull the strings off and snap them into pieces)
  4. Wash the cut beans under cold running water.
  5. Pack them into hot sterilized jars, leaving plenty of space at the top. (headroom)
  6. Add 1 tsp. non-iodized canning-appropriate salt to each jar.
  7. Fill each jar with boiling water to within 1/2" of top.
  8. Wipe threads.
  9. Add lids and screw rings on comfortably tight.
  10. Set filled jars in canning rack and lower into boiling water in canning pot. Put lid on pot. Be sure the water covers the jar tops by an inch or two. Add more boiling water if level drops.
  11. Bring to a boil over high heat and process for 3 hours. Begin timing when water returns to a boil. (Once the water returns to a boil, heat can be lowered to medium to maintain a soft boil)
  12. Remove processed jars to a folded towel to cool leaving air circulation space between jars.
  13. Once the jars are cool to room temperature, check to make sure lids have sealed. Remove rings. Wash the cooled jars, write date on lid and move to storage.
  14. Any jars that did not seal should be reprocessed or refrigerated and used within a few days.
Take responsibility for your own food safety. Before opening any home processed jar, check to make sure lid is still "sucked-down" in it's concave position. Never use anything from a jar if it is discolored, foaming or has an "off" smell. Always bring home canned green beans to boiling before serving.

26 comments:

Sarah said...

you are leaving me with no excuses, i am going to try to can all of this, this summer.

Anonymous said...

I should have done this before. I didn't realize it is so easy.

Anonymous said...

I pressured 23 quarts of green beans at 10 pounds of pressure for 10 minutes. I realized later that it should have been for 25 minutes. Can I repressure these green beans?

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I’m going to give this a try

Anonymous said...

I tried to can green beans and they looked beautiful. Couple hours later the jars started foaming like you had opened a coke.thejars wre sealed but with all the bubbles and foam thereafter started outward.what happened?

Anonymous said...

Do you have a corn water bath recipe

Anonymous said...

Don't take the chance....only acidic foods like tomatoes and pickles can use the waterbath.
Beans and corn need the pressure cooker. I have been canning 40 years, and would never use the
water bath for beans. You can't get the proper temp. for killing the bacteria. Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

I agree 100%. I am 68 and have canned everything from tomatoes to okra. Even made hominy once. Only once. I have never heard of canning beans in water bath. I guess it works if she has been doing it for so long, we all so what we are comfortable. And water bathing some thing for 3 hours is too time consuming for me. Having said ill of that, I still live your posts. 😉

Anonymous said...

I do green beans in water bath mine turn out ok!

Anonymous said...

Wow, how many people are you going to get killed with this bad advice? 🙄
Stick to tested SAFE recipes from places like Ball, Bernardin, or the NCHFP people. Nchfp.uga.edu stay safe, don't die.

Anonymous said...

Dont be rude

Anonymous said...

Can’t believe someone could be so ignorant to give out this deadly recipe

Anonymous said...

I waterbath everything I've had a few fails. Like lids that came off.

Anonymous said...

What do you think your great grandma did there wasn't a pressure canner I have canned since I was 8 with my granny and always water bathed she never lost a human

Anonymous said...

This is true water bath was the only way to can before pressure canners existed what do you think the Amish still do they water bath everything even on wood burning stoves

Anonymous said...

I have been doing a water bath on everything I have canned since I was a kid canning with my grandmother. Not one of us died from our canned food.

Anonymous said...

People in Europe water bath everything our ancestors quarterbacked everything so what makes this such a deadly thing to do if we don't pressure cook it anonymous you're wrong

Anonymous said...

I grew up on water bath canned green beans, no one died or got sick. If done properly they are perfectly safe. Get over yourself!

Anonymous said...

3 hours? Why so long? If you add salt and also 2 tsp vinegar, you can process them in a regular canner for 20 minutes.

Anonymous said...

A little niceness goes a long way! Both Waterbath and pressure cooking work when done properly. Amish Waterbath everything in my area, that's who taught me!

Anonymous said...

I grew up Amish . My mom didn’t have a pressure canner . Although we were allowed to have them . None the less we always water bath canned an we never in all my yrs got sick. I still do it that way ! Love canning !’

Anonymous said...

Water bath everything and I grew up on it its fine if you know what your doing. My grandma did and she lived to be 98

Anonymous said...

Me too

Anonymous said...

I am going to try this. Thank you!😊

Anonymous said...

How do I know if I didn't write

Anonymous said...

These days some tomatoes are low acid. You will need to add some lemon juice to the lower acid ones or pressure can them. Sammy me how I know! $100 of tomatoes lost. Costly mistake. I now own a pressure canner.