Canning Dry Beans

I have stocked my pantry with dry goods and we are buying very little prepared foods from the store these days. I am learning to created my own "convenience foods" from scratch. By doing this, I know how the foods were prepared and exactly what went in them. This year I stopped buying canned beans. This was an item I always had stocked in my pantry to whip out for quick meals that didn't take much thought. I use black beans, white beans, aduki and pinto beans regularly. When I stopped my Health Food Club, I really started to see how expensive organic has become in the stores. I tried to "compromise" with non-organic...but if you ever read the label - you would see- it's not good. I was not comfortable buying them....so I decided I would need to learn to plan ahead and use my dry beans. It works well...as long as
I think ahead for soaking! I learned a few tricks for soaking beans: You can soak beans WAY ahead, drain them and store them in the fridge. They keep for a week + and they are their when you need them. That was very helpful...except for taking up precious fridge space. :-) I really missed that pantry convenience. I started searching for recipes to can dry beans, and after sifting through (what seemed like) a hundred green bean recipes....I finally found one to can dry beans! This was so exciting for me! So I thought I would share it with you - in case there is anyone else out there as crazy as me. I still use my dry beans when I think ahead - but it is so nice to have that fast food option on my pantry shelf as well! (Keep in mind you can do this same thing with any baked bean or prepared bean recipe you like! Just make the recipe and can it with these instructions.)


You will need:

A Pressure Canner/Cooker with a gauge
5lbs of dried beans of your choice = 7 Qrts
or
3 1/4 pounds of dried beans of your choice = 9 Pints
1/2tsp per pint jar OR 1 tsp salt per Qrt jar


The Day Before Canning: Rinse and Soak Beans for 12-18 hours (put in large pot and cover with twice as much water)

Canning Day:

1. Drain water and cover with fresh water (about an inch to 3 above beans) cover and boil for 2o minutes.

2. Prepare your canning jars and lids (sterilize and keep hot).

3. When beans are done boiling, put salt in each jar and add cooked beans with cooking water, leaving 1 inch head space. Wipe rims clean and affix leads.


Processing:
Pints = 75 minutes at 10lbs pressure
Qrts = 90 minutes at 10lbs pressure

Enjoy!

I have shared this post at Homestead Revival.