Canning Green Beans....with Flavor!

I was recently very fortunate to have run into a fellow gardener.  The gentleman, who instructed me to call him 'Coach', has been growing vegetables of all kinds nearby for several years now.  In a fortuitous meeting, he informed me that his wife just might hurt him if he brought home any more green beans, and to help myself to as many as I could pick.  

He's easily got four or five dozen plants.  So it's off to the drawing board.  The first thing I ever learned how to pressure can was green beans.  With canning salt.  And water.  Now don't get me wrong, they were as good as any canned green beans you get from the store, but really, how good is that?  


I do enjoy doctoring things I buy, but I didn't really see the point of doing lots of doctoring after the seals have been broken.  Why not instead let the beans soak in some flavors for as long as they're in the jar?  This is what I did.

For detailed instructions on how to pressure can anything, check out Ball's website, as well as the National Center for Food Preservation's site.  There are many many other sites to check out, including youtube, but I always think it's a good idea when canning something new to check two sources.  And one of them should absolutely be a trusted, constantly verified site.  

Not saying I follow every rule in life, but I at least try to see what they are before I break them.

Anyway, in this situation, I did follow the rules.  I just put an extra ingredient or two in.

Wash yer beans.  Snap them into 1-2" pieces.  You can leave them larger but it makes it more difficult to get them into the jars.  Oh, I forgot to mention, I chose to do a raw pack on my beans.  Also, check out this double ended little dude I found!  Twins mayhaps?  A split tail, if you will...

1 T each of garlic powder, canning salt, dehydrated onion

1 t of crushed red pepper

1/2 each of black pepper and ground mustard

Add a teaspoon to each pint jar of beans.

Fill with boiling water...

Squeegie out any air bubbles (old baby spoons work like whoa)...

And stick them into the canner!

It really didn't take that many beans to yield a canner load.  As I type, I'm procrastinating the even larger bowl of beans in front of me that I plan to pack into quart jars.  Really though, the canning process on this one doesn't take so long.  10 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes, 25 for quarts.

Mmm-mmm.  Ready to crack one of these bad boys open and give them a shot.  So there you have it, a quick run through on how I pressure canned my green beans.*  

*That being said, don't forget to sterilize your jars, and know how to operate a pressure canner.  Cause those things are no joke!  Refer to previous links in this post to learn all of the safety specs on pressure canning.