This won’t be a lengthy post. For one reason, I am still learning lots! And for another, I haven’t tried much yet. Anyway, here is a wee post of pressure canning two different types of beans. Wait… what? Can’t I just purchase beans at the store? Ahem. The answer is, yes… for now, you can!

Why do you want to can beans, then?
1. Convenience. I like the idea of being able to go to the shelf and grab a quick side for something like pulled pork BBQ.
2. Store bought beans have not been properly prepared. Beans contain phytic acid and, by soaking them, you neutralize that which causes much easier digestion.
3. In some cases, I have grown my own dried beans! Beans do have a long shelf life, but, if I want to eat them and serve them to my family, I want to prepare them properly, which means quite a bit of time beforehand.

Baked Beans

There are many different recipes out there for baked beans. Generally there are two types of sauces: a tomato sauce and a molasses sauce. I always make the tomato style sauce, although I do add molasses to it sometimes. But, for this canning project, I chose to make an easy and quick molasses sauce. Trial 1! I have never canned beans beyond green beans, so I was thrilled to get to.

The recipe that I followed can be found in Melissa K. Norris’ new book Everything Worth Preserving. I am a big fan of hers, as I’ve mentioned in the past. She is very thorough and careful, but the things she does are doable! I use a Presto canner, like this one. However, there are other kinds of pressure canners. Beans must be pressure canned, as they are a low acidity food. I was able to get 7 quarts into the canner and, since we love baked beans, I went with quart jars versus pints. I am very excited with how they look! But, we haven’t tasted them yet. Mm…

Black Beans

The next day, I decided to try canning black beans. Now, without going into all of the details of the canning process, I will say that dry beans must be soaked and prepared before canning. You cannot just put dried beans and water into the jars and have it work out.

I follow The Homesteading Family and receive their emails and podcasts, etc. They have excellent recipes to follow. These recipes are, again, very thorough and yet very doable. The recipe they use for black beans seemed just what I was looking for. So, I gave it a shot. We haven’t eaten any of the beans yet, but they look delicious in their jars. My canner held 10 pint jars, a great size for the meals we use black beans in.

With both kinds of beans, I purchase bulk organic: navy beans for the baked beans and black turtle beans for the black beans. The simple math is approximately 3/4 cups dried beans per pint jar OR 1.5 cups dried beans per quart jar. You soak the beans at a 3:1 ratio (3 cups water per 1 cup dried beans). So, for example, since I made 7 quarts of baked beans, I soaked 9 cups of beans in 27 cups of water. Honestly, I had some black beans leftover. But, I’d rather have too much than not enough. The soaking can be anywhere from 12-48 hours. I was right in the middle at around 24 hours.

The actual recipe/book (linked above) have excellent step by step instructions to follow. For the entire process, check them out!

What do you think? Have you ever made canned beans? Tell me all of your secrets.

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