Canning Green Beans

It’s great to preserve some of your garden's bounty to use during the cold winter months.  There is nothing like pulling a jar of preserves from the pantry shelf while the snow’s falling and the wind’s howling and getting a little whiff that takes you right back to summer.

For the best green beans, pick fresh tender pods first thing in the morning. Growing and picking from your own garden is always best, but purchasing from a local farm market will be just as good.

You will need about 1 pound of green beans for each pint jar and 2 pounds of beans for each quart jar.

Please Note: 

When canning green beans you must process them in a pressure canner.  There is a higher risk of botulism when canning low acid foods, such as green beans.  Pressure canning is the only recognized safe option. Dilly Beans, which are pickled green beans, are preserved in vinegar so can be water bathed. 

Check the directions that came with your pressure canner to determine how many jars your canner will hold.  I like to can my green beans in wide mouth pints jars. They’re easier to fill and easy to remove when cooking.  My canner will hold 12 regular mouth pint jars or 10 wide mouth pint jars. 

Green beans can be hot packed or cold packed. A cold pack is also called raw pack.  I prefer to hot pack my green beans and is the method explained here but I will also include the cold (raw) pack method. 

Garden fresh green beans

What You'll Need:

• Approximately 1 pound per pint and 2 pounds of green beans per quart
• Canning Salt, (optional)
• Wide mouth jars with lids and bands
• Jar lifter, pots, bowl, spoons, knife, and various canning tools
• Pressure Canner

My daughter Dawn helping prepare the green beans for canning

How To Hot Pack:

Prepare the pressure canner by following the directions that came with your canner.

Sterilize jars and keep them hot. Place lids in simmering water until ready to use. Do not boil lids.

Remove string and any bad areas on green beans and trim off ends.

Wash the beans

 

Wash and rinse beans thoroughly.  Break or cut freshly gathered beans into 2-inch pieces. The beans look better when finished if they're the same size, but don't worry about it. It's OK to have different sizes unless you're entering them in your local fair.

Break or cut beans into 2 inch pieces

Place beans in a large pot and cover with boiling water. Boil for 4 to 5 minutes.

Pack hot beans tightly into hot jars leaving a 1 inch headspace.

Pack hot beans into hot jars

Add ½ teaspoon of salt to pints and 1 teaspoon of salt to quart jars.

Add salt

Ladle boiling water over beans leaving 1 inch headspace. Remember to remove air bubbles.

Add boiling water

Wipe jar rim and apply the 2 piece lid.  Tighten to finger tip tight, meaning turn just until you meet resistance.

Put 2 piece lid on jars

Process filled jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude.

Place jars in pressure canner

When the pressure canner has cooled down, remove jars and allow to cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Label and store in a cool dry area or pantry.

PRINT DIRECTIONS 

How To Cold (Raw) Pack

Cold pack is a little quicker but you don’t get as many beans in each jar as you do when hot packing.

Prepare pressure canner, sterilize jars and simmer lids.

Pack hot jars tightly with raw green beans, cover with boiling water, leaving a 1 inch head space.  Remove air bubbles.

Wipe rim and apply the 2 piece lid to fingertip tight.

Place filled jars in pressure canner. Process pints for 20 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure and quarts for 25 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Let canner cool then remove jars.  Check lids for seal.  Store in a cool dry area or pantry.

Finished !

Here’s a handy chart to adjust for altitude or if you have a Dial Gauge Pressure Canner

Adjustments for Pressure Canner
Altitude in Feet	Dial Gauge Canner	Weighted Gauge Canner
0-1000	10	10
1001-2000	11	15
2001-4000	12	15
4001-6000	13	15
6001-8000	14	15
8000-10,000	15	15

What have you canned, frozen or preserved from your garden so far this year? Do you have a favorite family recipe for canning certain garden vegetables?  I'd love to hear about them,

Elizabeth

My work area:  I love my vintage funnels and measuring spoons

Other Recipes:

Homemade Sweet Pickle Relish

Natural Tomato Soup

Canning Rabbit Meat