Canning for the Fourth

So what was the Trent household doing for the fourth of July? Canning! What could be more patriotic than growing your own food and storing it yourself for harder times? Since Pat and I were married I've really want to learn how, so my Mom was finally able to show me. We had a huge mess of beans that came in so we got to work. All together we canned 54 quarts of green beans! It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The pressure canner is a bit intimidating but if you follow the directions and make sure to be careful with it, it's not that bad at all! Take a look!

The first step is to, obviously, pick the beans. We picked 6 buckets full!! Next you should wash them off (especially if it rains because the dirt will bounce up on them). We sprayed them off with the water-hose on the back porch and then washed them again in buckets. Next you'll have to string and break them as demonstrated by my Dad, an expert in the field of Bean Breaking.

 

Next you get to wash them again! Just to make sure you've got all the dirt off of them. Who would want to bite into gritty beans?!

Once your beans are washed put them on to cook. Mom said she lets her's cook for about 30 minutes on medium heat or until all the other supplies are ready for canning. She said the beans will turn a different shade of green and you'll know they are ready then as well.

Either before you put the beans on to cook or directly after, you should wash and put your jars in the oven to heat up. This will sterilize them. It is SO important to make sure everything you work with is sterile when you are canning. Turn the oven on a low heat and leave the jars in until you are ready to can.

You will also need to sterilize the jar lids in boiling water.

Once your beans are ready, fill the sterile jars with the beans and water they were boiled in. Fill the jar up to the bottom of where you screw the lid on and make sure water is covering the beans. Screw the lid on as tightly as you can get it. Before you put any jars in the pressure canner, fill the bottom with water and heat. Every canner should come with instructions on what heat and how high to fill with water. Our canner would hold 7 quarts. Once you place seven jars in the canner slide the lid on and wait until steam starts to come out the top before you add the weight. Our canner called for 10 pounds of pressure for 30 minutes for green beans. Once steam comes out, add the weight then wait about 7 minutes before you start the 30 minutes of cooking time. This will allow the proper pressure to build to cook the beans. Monitor the heat so that the weight has a steady, slow roll. When the weight is on the canner it will roll around.

 

After the 30 minutes is over set the canner off the heat for another 30 minutes so the pressure can go down. You can take a case knife and gently lift the weight to see if there is any pressure left. If steam comes out from under the weight either let it sit longer or continue to slowly release the pressure by lifting the weight with the knife. Be very careful if you choose to do it this way! If there is not steam, remove the weight and ALWAYS open the lid away from your body. Just in case there is any pressure left inside.

The finished product! Lots of beans for winter!

These are the ones I canned on my own from start to finish. So happy!

I wanted to can or freeze my sugar-snap peas but they were too delicious and gone too soon. We'll be planting more of them next year.

 What's on our canning agenda next? Probably more beans! I would also like to learn how to make my Mom-In-Law's tomato soup. It's delicious! Especially on cold, snowy days. What are you storing?

Jess