Well, it seems beans have knocked chicken off the number one spot of being the easiest things I’ve ever canned. The only thing that makes canning beans easier, is you don’t have to deal with messy, raw chicken. You just wash dried beans, pour them in jars, add salt, secure the lids/rings, and plop them in the canner.
I haven’t previously canned beans in quantity because I couldn’t get a good enough price point on dry beans to justify canning. Beans have gone up in price, and are now typically $1.35 a pound, and pretty much the same for one can. At Aldi, you can get beans for anywhere between 60 and 70 cents a can, so at that price I couldn’t reason spending money on lids for canning beans. One lucky day, a neighbor took me to a restaurant supply store, and now I can buy bulk beans at a much lower price. Out of one pound of dry beans, I now get 4 pints of beans for 19.5 cents each.
If using a 23 quart canner and pint jars, you can fit 16 pints in the pot using a rack. To make things even more fun, why not can different kinds of beans in one shot? In one canning session, try canning kidney, white, pinto, and black beans. This way you don’t have 16 jars of just one type of bean.
The question some canners struggle with, is canning dry verses soaked beans. I did an experiment and canned each kind, and found that canning dry beans makes for a nice, soft bean, that holds its shape. The soaked beans wouldn’t hold up well in a bean salad, or stay firm enough in a soup in my opinion. The 1/2 cup per dry beans per pint, and 1 cup per quart, has proven true with the beans I’ve tried so far – – pinto, white, and black beans. In fact, this is also how I make my home canned pork and beans. You must make your own decision if using the dry bean method. I’m a pretty big rule follower with official guidelines, but I’ve eaten beans I’ve canned from a dry state several times, as have many others, and in my opinion it is not a safety risk.
Because you will be pressure canning, no need to sterilize your jars, but do make sure they are clean, and always wash them right out of the box. Place 1/2 cup of beans in each pint, with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Fill with water to the 1 inch mark. Head space is very important, so pay close attention to it, always. Your canning instructions may be different depending on your canner, but here are my instructions for a 23 quart Presto:
Pour 3 quarts of water in canner.
Put jars in canner and lock the lid.
Turn on heat, and when the steam is streaming, set timer for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes are up, put your pressure gauge on, and wait until it reaches 10 pounds (that’s for my elevation).
After 10 pounds of pressure has been reached, start the timer for 75 minutes for pints, and 90 minutes for quarts.
When time is up, remove canner from heat, and let the pressure come down naturally. Do not lift the gauge off to release pressure. This could result in broken jars or water loss.
After pressure is down to zero, remove gauge, and set timer for 10 minutes, then open lid and remove jars from canner.
If your jars pop down, they are shelf stable.
Have questions? Please ask on Preserved Home’s Facebook page, or on this post. And I’d love to see pictures of your canning projects!
I want to do what’s safe for my family. I realize this metjod is easier, but is it 100% safe? Has there been any testing to make sure the bean internal temp reaches 240° when canning from dry as it does when canning from soaked and parboiled beans?
You should just do it the traditional way. No amount of assurance short of a 10 page report from Underwriters Laboratories will ease your mind enough to make you feel safe eating beans canned this way. By the way, 90 minutes in a pressure canner will sterilize EVERYTHING.
As I always say, your rules, your kitchen. Everyone needs to do their own research I just know what works for me. Canning beans from a dry state always yields a perfect texture for me.
What exactly is the texture like when you are canning dry beans
Firmer than with canning soaked beans. Soaked beans disintegrate easily while being heated, or if added to another dish (like soup). Dry beans hold up to a second cook, or as mentioned above use in a bean salad. Soaked beans might be ideal for frijoles refritos, but that’s the only advantage I see. I’ve been feeding my family canned dry beans for years.
I am doing some now to revamp my stock . I have done them both ways just depends on how I feel weather I soak them or not ..
Fixing to do dry canning of potatoes to add to quick replenish tomorrow before my big bag of potatoes get bad .. you just use butter and salt if you want more seasoning you can buy I just do salt and butter so if I want to use them in soup or just add to hot skillet for a quick char to eat them .. you have to soak them at least 12 hrs and rinse and replace with fresh water then dry them stuff jars after mixing them in melted butter I have only used real butter meaning cream only as ingredients. Put in pressure canner and pints is what I do and it 40 min at 10 lb . I think it’s 75 min for quarts ..
Soak them whole or peeled and diced?
Hi! I’d love to make black beans this way, from dry. But I’d really like to make a copycat chipotle black bean type. I’m not sure if it’s ok to add minced garlic and adobo sauce, lemon juice and lime juice. I know the dry spices are fine but wondering about the fresh garlic and sauce.
I forgot to add, the recipe also has onions.
Yes, add it all! Sounds delicious! I make flavored beans all the time.
I tried dry canning pintos. Very little liquid in jar. No siphoning. Can i recan them with a sauce or will beans keep with little liquid
When you say little liquid do you mean it’s a thick, murky liquid but it’s not soupy? If so, that’s the way that’s the way it’s supposed to look. If you dump the whole thing (no rinsing) into a pan and cook wile smashing beans, you will have delicious refried beans!
This is first time on your site and liked it. One question pressure canning pinto beans and sausage. For beans measurement for Qts and measurement for sausage amount pre Qt jar.
Thank you
Your pressure canning for 1.5 hours so yes it is safe to add thise ingredients.
I’ve always cooked my Cuban black beans in a pressure cooker so this sounds interesting to make several bean varieties.
I learned from my Cuban mother in-law when I was 17. (1963)
Very distinctive spices. Oregano, olive oil, s/p, garlic onions, and several green peppers (seeded & unpeeled).
I am new to pressure canning as well. I pressure canned pints of great northern beans for the first time last weekend using the no soak method without salt. I canned them for 75 minutes. All the jars sealed properly. I opened a jar last night and although the flavor was fine the texture of the beans were somewhat mushy. Can I add something to the jar that would help keep the beans more firm and intact. Possibly salt, pickle quick, or something else.
Thank you in advance for the help!
Also wanted to mention I canned at the correct amount of pressure for my altitude.
I’m really surprised they are mushy. I’m sorry I don’t know why that would be.
I think some salt is necessary.
What did you turn them into?
Soup, Pasta e fagiole??? Italian pasta and beans soup. Just rinse off damage, handle gently then add to soup. Made at restaurant.
Beans will soften depending on the PH of the water. If they are too soft with your tap water, try adding a small amount of vinegar to the water in your jar. If they are too firm, try adding a bit of baking soda. Your water is different from my water, so I can’t give you an amount, but what you could do is try a batch where you add 1tsp to a jar (labelled of course) 2tsp to the next, 3tsp to the next, and so on to try different amounts. Then can as usual, and when you find the one you like, add that to your personal recipe.
I don’t think I would go as high as 4tsp, but it depends on how hard your water is.
Can this process be used for dried green peas? Not split peas?
I ordered a 25 pound bag of dried peas from Azure, and have been meaning to try dry canning them. I’ll let you know when I try, or if you try it let me know!
Hi there so happy I found your post. Do we have to use boiling hot water or room temp water with the dry beans?
can you let me kow how the peas turned out I am very interested in canning my dry peas
I did green peas I bought from Azure, and like lima beans they just turn mushy. I will try them in the crockpot when I need them.
Laura,
We are canning dry beans (no soak) and the product is good but the liquid left in the jars is thick and murky. One bean we use a lot and would like to can is Garbanzo. We also like to use the aquafaba in commercial canned beans. Is there a way to keep the liquid more clear?
thanks,
Mickey
I don’t think there is a way to escape the murky liquid, just rinse.
Beans are very starchy and that is the murky liquid you are getting. It is normal in all dry bean recipes.
Thank you all for all the information. I am 72 years old and going to try canning dried northern beans. I have canned for years upon years, but dried beans other than from a garden is new to me. Watch a lot of You Tube learning cooking. Making Artisan Breads and fancy desserts is a great stress reliever for me and I have things to give my friends and neighbors. I am thinking my own canned dried beans will be wonderful this winter with all types cornbread. Again, thank you all so very much. Never too old to learn and cooking is my passion.
You are welcome Elaine!! Sounds like you are having a great time in your kitchen while blessing others!
I noticed in your canning videos that you use wide mouth jars. Any particular reason? I have a large number of small mouth jars & lids on hand that I would like to use. Thanks.
I think the reason between wide mouth and regular mouth jars is personal preference and ease of removing the contents. If you have basically liquid contents then either jar is fine, but if you have something that is a thick consistency then the wide mouth jar is easier to get the contents out.
I want to do the no soak method for seasoned cuban black beans. I’m not putting any meat products, only seasonings. Going to follow another recipe for that and your great direction on the beans.
Hi! How did they turn out?
I want to do 15 beans but not soup, just the beans what would be the procedure with this variety? Cups per pint/ per quart
For a quart use 1 cup of any beans, doesn’t need to be soup.
Wouldn’t you do more in a jar for navy beans, because they tend not to swell as much as the other types. You end up with half a jar of liquid and half a jar of beans.
It doesn’t matter if it’s large or small mouth jars.
I want to do the no soak method for seasoned cuban black beans. I’m not putting any meat products, only seasonings. Going to follow another recipe for that and your great direction on the beans.
I just canned dry beans for the first time a month or so ago. The first batch I did I processed for 75 min., they seemed just a tad firm for our liking. So the next batch I did for 80 min. we thought they were perfect. So I have been processing them at 80 min. per pint. That should not matter doing 5 min. longer?
Judy, it’s fine as long as you make the 75 or 90 min mark, you’re good. Anything past that will make it softer as you’ve found and if you like that texture better, then by all means do what you like. It’s your kitchen. 😉
I am new to canning I canned 3 batches of Pinto beans on the third batch I noticed the water in canner was very low I added some water but I forgot to add enough and proceeded to can when done there was only about 1/2 inch of water left all the jars sealed Are they ruined? Thankyou
You should be fine. Even with your lower level of water, the pressure canner was still full of steam at the correct pressure/temperature, so the food you are processing won’t know the difference. You might notice more liquid boils out of the jars during cool down however, as the canner cools faster than the jars, letting the liquid in the jars boil.
You say add water to the jars of beans, boiling water? Please clarify. Thank you. Another budget saver.
It does not have to be boiling, but the temp of the water in your jars need to match the temp in your canner.
The only issue would be under processing, and 80 minutes is fine!
How many navy beans in a pint when dry canning.
When you say dry canning, do you mean canning beans from dry with water?
For using any unwashed, uncooked “Dry” bean or pea, my rule of thumb is 1/2 cup per pint and 1 cup per quart. This rule has worked for me regardless of of any spices you may add. Of course fill to the proper level with hot water before wiping and sealing. Too many beans or peas and they will absorb all of the water while canning leaving a few cooked but dry beans or peas at the top. Too little beans or peas and you will have a layer of juice at the top. All are edible but some may not win a prize at the county fair.
I could not find my 1/2 cup measuring cup so I used a scant2/3 cup. I like the way I ended up with more beans then liquid. They all sealed and nothing was boiled out of jars in canner.
I found with the navy beans seeing as they are a smaller bean I have to use a bit more beans per jar so I do 3/4 cup oc those.
This is the first time I have been on this web site. I am really impressed with all of the new things I have learned. Thank you so much. I have a lot of new things to try.
Thank you Mae!
Relatively new to canning. I want to try dry large lima beans. I mentioned to someone how I plan to do it with the ½ cup dry beans and filling it with boiling water. They said ½ cup was too much for Lima beans. Are lima beans different somehow? Should I still use the ½ cup? Thanks.
Limas get a bit mushy in the canner, even when canned from a dry state. Who said 1/2 cup was too much for a pint? I don’t remember what I did last time, but what I would do is try 1/3 cup of limas in a pint just to see, and then do 6 other pints of other beans to fill the canner. Also, just making sure you know canning from a dry state is a rebel method. :)
I don’t care for lima beans very much so I’ve never canned them, but the question about amount per pint jar might be because the dry lima beans are probably larger than the other bean varieties, therefore 1/2 cup might be too much in a pint jar. A specific amount of a generic vegetable (beans) should be considered a guideline, not an absolute. There are too many problems with proper/safe canning when a person disregards tested amounts by reliable sources. Knowing what is considered “proper amount” or “fill to level” is crucial for making the right decision during the canning process.
Also I have found there is a difference, although it is slight, in the amount of actual capacity between a regular mouth jar and a wide mouth jar which can contribute to accuracy on amounts required to “fill” the jar.
I was thinking large limas may swell too much for 1/2 cup dry too. All my limas get mushy but we still love them. If too mushy for your taste add them to soup as a thickener too. I’m a rebel and think outside the box all the time. I feel I’m still doing things in a safe manner.
Hi Laura, I am VERY new to canning! A few weeks ago, I canned great northern white beans using the no-soak method. I used pints, pressure canned for 75 minutes, and the jars sealed.
I looked at the jars today, and the beans are sprouting. Frankly, I don’t know if they were sprouted right after the canning process or if they are sprouting post-canning, but I think(?) it’s been over the last few weeks.
Have you ever experienced/heard of this? I don’t know whether to pitch the batch, or whether it might be usable. Thank you for any insights!
Hi Karen! Did you take the rings off the jars? I’m wondering if you have a false seal. Canning should stop the beans from aging, so if the beans are actively sprouting while sealed, I would not use them. Are you sure they didn’t start sprouting before you canned them?
Hi! I did take the rings off the jars. Was that a mistake?
They were definitely not sprouted before canning.
I also canned some pint jars of meat in the same batch that I canned these jars of beans. Everything appeared to have sealed. Now I’m concerned about the meat. :-)
Can you direct me to good information on false sealing?
No, not a mistake. You are supposed to take the rings off after they have completely cooled. I was asking because maybe rings on the lids were creating a false seal. If the beans are actively sprouting, I just would not take the chance. If the meat is perfectly sealed I would not worry about that at all. Here is a link about jars sealing. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/cooling_jars_test_seals.html
Hi. Its common for live seeds to sprout during the cooking. Seeds sprout when they get warm and some are just ready to jump out… My lentils do this most of the time. The product is 99.99% likely fine. If you look at lentils, chickpeas, turtle beans, navy beans and lots of other veggies when you cook them… Youll notice little buds quite often. At least i do. Seeds sprout when exposed to heat!
No need to discard.
If they look like beansprouts though, you obviously have a problem. I cant attach photos.
Renee, that is so interesting – I’ve never heard of seeds sprouting when cooking!
Laura, not disputing your personal experience or knowledge related to pressure canning, however as someone NOT new to canning I had an incident with my pressure canner which caused me great concern over the safety issue on 17 pints of meat from that one load. Every jar except one sealed. I put that one in the fridge as soon as it was cooled.
I knew I had 24 hours to decide what to do with those remaining 16 SEALED BUT QUESTIONABLY SAFE JARS. I did not want to pitch them out. Too much money and time involved. But I did not want to take a chance on botulism, either. That can be a fatal bacterial infection. The next morning I put all the jars in the refrigerator while I waited for a return call from the department director of food preservation and safety for home canning/pressure canning.
So very glad I discussed it with her! I could reprocess them, refrigerate, or freeze the sealed jars to prevent c.botulinum from becoming a health issue. If in doubt, check it out! Your County Extension Office can help you with answers, or direct you to someone who can give you the answer.
Hello again. Having ‘googled’ false seals, I see that siphoning can cause this. I did smell meat at one point in the process and the water was cloudy after processing. Again, all the jars appear to be sealed.
I will have trouble tossing the beans. It will be painful to have to discard the meat. Would there be signs of spoilage for the meat, such as odor, that I can watch for?
I sent my last comment without seeing yours. Thank you very much for your help on this!! And I meant I will NOT have trouble tossing the beans! Lol!
I’m sure the meat is just fine – with canning meat the water always gets murky. Why don’t you pop open one can of beans, and if the seal is really tight it sealed. I just don’t think if the beans are actively sprouting how that can be possible with a good seal.
Its logical that you smell the product you PC as air is expelled from the jar. It would be odd to can with no scent.
Hide the jar in one hand poke a hole in the lid with a knife if you hear a small sucking sound ….it was sealed!
Hi Karen, I was canning yesterday and was doing onions but only had four pints for second batch so I decided to do some garbonzo beans to have a full canner. It got late so when time was up I just turned of the heat and went to bed. In the morning after opening the canner the jars still had a lil boiling going on and had some siphoning and the beans sprouted,, lol. They sealed fine but did I let them sit to long in the canner , about six hrs ?
Hi Karen, I was canning yesterday and was doing onions but only had four pints for second batch so I decided to do some garbonzo beans to have a full canner. It got late so when time was up I just turned of the heat and went to bed. In the morning after opening the canner the jars still had a lil boiling going on and had some siphoning and the beans sprouted,, lol. They sealed fine but did I let them sit to long in the canner , about six hrs ? Thanks for your canning tips.
Does anyone have experience with Anchor Hocking jars. Canning supplies are few and far between down here and all I see available are Anchor Hocking jars. Anchor Hocking is an old company but I don’t know if they can take the heat or the pressure. I have always used either Ball, Mason or Kerr. I would hate to lose a canner load of produce to faulty jars. They are rather high in price also. $17.00 for a dozen quarts with lids and rings.
Yes, I love Anchor Hocking jars! They work great. Also, Golden Harvest.
Thanks for the comment Laura. In April and May I put up 126 jars with most of them quarts. I was down to two dozen quarts jars left so I bought a dozen of the Anchor Hocking quart jars. I have been holding off using them because I was unsure of their track record. You have put my mind at ease.
I am not a fan of Golden Harvest jars for pressure canning. Although, I will admit it has been several years since I’ve used any. They broke too often during pressure canning for me to continue using. Also, I had a much higher rate of seal failure with Golden Harvest lids.
I had 7 minutes left for my dry chili beans which I was PC in my Presto 23 qt canner when it ran out of water. Should I recan them?
Hi Sandra. What ran out of water – your jars or the canner?
Laura, I just bought some Anchor Hocking. It’s all I can find. It says canning jars but not”approved” for pressure canning. My mama canned in Mayonaise jars. Lol… So you do pressure cook in them successfully?
I know I’ve bought Anchor Hocking jars but didn’t see that about not pressure canning with them. I just looked it up and saw that somewhere else which says the same thing as you. If it says not to, I would probably stick with water bath canning them. Yes, I see on the Rebel Canners Facebook page people can in empty pasta jars too. That’s not something I personally would do, but to each her own! :)
I jsut canned dry pack potatoes and useed all kinds of jars for the pressure canner including pasta jars and old mayo jars and they did just fine.
Their JARS are good… but the lids they have on them are only good for water bath canning. When used for pressure canning I have a 95% failure rate where they buckle up. Lesson learned. As the jars usually sell cheaper, I like to buy them, and use new Ball lids for pressure canning, AH and genetic lids for water bath canning.
Is the salt necessary or just a flavoring? Can I add a Mexican spice mix, homemade blend?
The salt is just for flavor and YES, you can add which ever seasonings you want! The USDA doesn’t recommend any seasoning with a thickener, but I add all kinds of of seasonings to my beans. One of my favorites is chipotle, garlic, Mexican oregano, salt, and onion. Have fun with it!
Brad, the cheaper kids do buckle if you over tighten your bands. I found by just finger tip tightening them, they don’t buckle. Hope that helps.
I know this comment comes long after you posted your question, but I’ve purchased anchor hocking jars & have been using them in my pressure canner for several years. This includes items with long processing times like salmon & tuna. No issues or exploding jars yet.
Have you tasted the potatoes that you canned? I canned a bunch ( in water ) but the texture & even the taste were odd. Not good at all. Would LOVE to know a better way!
I followed Laura’s recommendations and dry canned my potatoes. I’ve canned about 45 quarts and eaten half of them. They taste much better than canning in water. The procedure is the same just leave out the water. The moisture in the potatoes is sufficient to cook the potatoes. I like to take a quart of them and fry them with a little oil, chopping them up as they cook. Add 4 scrambled eggs that have also been chopped up. This is a great for making Egg and Potato Burrito’s. Add a little Picante Sauce before wrapping and you have a great breakfast.
Thank you! Good to know!! It is really hard for me to wrap my brain around dry canning but I will give it a go! Sounds great!
I plan to try the process on carrots the next time I receive a case of culls from the local food bank. They were discarding them for livestock feed but I cleaned and canned them.
Jerry, are you on any groups on Facebook? I enjoyed reading the back and forth dialog.
Sorry Jeanette. I don’t do Facebook. To time consuming for me. Laura has a great website here for sharing thoughts and comments.
For a follow up on the dry canning of carrots. I dry canned about 10lbs of carrots last week and they came out great. Better flavor with better texture. Great heated with a little honey.
The healthycannin.com is a great resource for safe info as well as the facebook group “canning for beginners-safely by the book” lynn tanner is the main moderator and is excellent in curating evidence based and safe information for canning
Thanks Chase. I reference lots of sites including the Healthy Canning site. I have several canning books too – I love to read them!
Its sorta air frying in a jar.
I canned pinto beans and I have some jars that didn’t seal. Can i reprocess them and if I can what do I do and for how long . Pinto
Sorry I’m late to answering, they would be total mush if you re-canned.
So you put no water in with the potatoes you are canning? Do you water bath can or pressure cook them. I am new to canning some things and appreciate the input from all of you.
I am not real savvy for the internet, hope I did everything ok.
I just put some butter and salt in the jar, no water. This is not a government approved method but Canning Diva sent dry canned potatoes to the lab to prove it’s safe. I always tell people they should do their own research if they aren’t sure. I pressure can potatoes.
I do the dry pack method and they turn out great. The taste is going to be a bit different than frsh potatoes. You just soak your potatoes for about 1/2 hour in cold water and then rinse and soak again (to get all the starch out that you can). I cut mine in chunks but you can cut them any way you like. Just pack dry in the jars all the way to the top of the jar because they are going to shrink down. I put any seasoning I like such as butter and garlic, parsley, onions. No water!!! put the lids on and seal jars and put in pressure canner for 40 min for quarts. The chunked ones are good in potato salad and as fried potatoes,I cut some in wedges to cook in the air fryer for french fries or to put in the oil to fry. WE just love the diversity of them and truely love the flavor.
I personally like the reds and golds for caning only because they do not have a ton of starch in them and do not get mushy. Russets seem to get really mushy for me because they are so starchy.
I love doing dry pack potatoes! I am going to do my canned fries that way moving forward.
Laura and Jerry, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your discussion! I have only water bathed at this point. All the darn rules and whatnot make me terrified to actually try anything with pressure (a story I was told growing up about my great grandma exploding beans in a pressure cooker and pelting the ceiling with beans that stayed embedded til who knows how long after they moved out years later….prob doesn’t help me with my confidence 🤣). But when I do pressure can I plan on experimenting because I’m positive what we get from the extensions isn’t all we can do!! So, to read your thoughtful and friendly convo is inspiring. Thank you!
Jamie I do not claim to be an expert. Since the first of March of this year I have canned over 170 jars of food. Eighty five percent of it was in a pressure cooker. The rest was oven canned or open canned. As long as you follow the standard procedures you will have nothing to worry about. Pressure caners have more safety features than your Grandmothers. I have three pressure caners. One is a 45 year old Presto that has all of the safety features and I use it on a regular basis. The USDA has a Complete Guide to Home Canning that is free on the internet. Save them for reference. If you buy a new caner there will be a set of instructions included. Use them. Once you educate yourself in the proper procedures a whole new world will open up for food storage that is not dependent on electricity.
As far as your washing of the beans before canning I guess this is up to your preference but it will make your beans begin to swell from soaking up the water. One cup of dried beans will produce more in a quart than one cup of washed beans. You may end up with more juice at the top of the jar with washed beans versus dry beans. My thought train is that I do not wash raw peanuts, pecans, walnuts or almonds before consuming. Why dried beans? All that is required is to sift through them for any bad beans or pebbles and they are ready for use. They will be sterilized and cooked when they leave the caner.
My mom had this happen when I was a kid. I don’t know if she even uses a pressure cooker any more 😂, she was notorious for blowing the seals out of the newer(safer) ones in the 70’s & 80’s.
We were using a gas stove, and mom was preparing supper, then there was an explosion of some kind from the kitchen. Everyone jumped to see what had happened, my grandmomma said, “I told y’all that pressure on the pressure cooker was too high and it blew the lid and what was in it all over that kitchen, it’s going to be a mess to clean up!” She was right stuff was everywhere!!
When I grew up I was terrified of any pressure cooker for the longest time. Finally I figured it was time I got over that fear, went out and bought one, and have been using one ever since…I even have an electric one I use when I am in a hurry and need that piece of not so inexpensive anymore chuck roast cooked.
I even bought a 21 or 23 quart(can’t recall which brand but it says it can hold 16 wide mouth pints and I think 7 or 8 quart jars) or pressure canner to try my hand canning my own food. I bought my oldest son one for Christmas, he loves to garden and always has excess(maybe I should not have gotten him one because he always brought me his excess🧐😂😉! ) Now I will need to get a green thumb.
Now I just need to get a time and try canning beans and are dry…shoot I just need to use the canner because now it just collecting dust!
I have dry canned hundreds of quarts of beans and peas over the last decade. The method that works for me is to place all off the contents in the jars and place them in the pressure cooker at room temperature with the correct amount of water in the pressure cooker without lids or rings. I then turn on the heat and bring the temperature in the jar up to 180 degrees F. I remove each jar, clean the rim and install the lid, ring and tighten. I place them back into the pressure cooker, put the lid in place and turn the heat back on following all of the normal procedures from that point. My family has eaten the canned beans 6 years after the canning date many times, I have found that this works for all beans and blackeyed peas. My question is that I want to move up from quarts to half gallon jars. I cook quarts for 90 minutes. What would be the timing for half gallons?
Hi Jerry,
At this time canning anything in 1/2 gallon jars besides clear juice has not been studied and is not recommended. That being said I can several items that are not recommended, such as milk and bacon. Canning dry uncooked, unsoaked beans isn’t recommended anywhere that I’ve seen but we are doing that here so…
In any case that is the reason there are no canning times for beans or other foods in 1/2 gallon jars. Most people don’t can in those jars so the extensions haven’t researched it and come up with processing times for us. We just don’t know whether the canning time for 1/2 gallon should be double the quart time or just 20 minutes more?
The important part of pressure canning, especially something dense like meat or beans, is to be absolutely sure that the standard temperature of 240º is reached and that all the food maintains that temperature for the whole processing time. One of the problems identified is that sometimes, and in some dense foods, the 240º temperature was not reached in the center of the food during the allotted processing time. If this happened to your beans then you could risk illness for you or whomever eats the food. So please do some research on the likelihood of your beans not reaching and maintaining 240º in such a large jar. That is your conundrum.
I know recommendations have changed and governmental agencies have done what they do best. I feel I must go with common sense and some very old experience of what I learned from my Grandmothers. Here in SE Texas there are a lot of oil field workers that abide by “If a little bit is a little bit of good then a whole lot is a whole lot of good”. I believe if I double the time for a quart then I should be able to safely cook 1/2 gallon. 180 minutes in a pressure cooker should kill anything big enough to die. I will either boil off all of the water in the pressure cooker or end up with mushy beans.
I was hoping that someone had experimented on this procedure and could give me some insight and direction. I am not saying anybody is right or wrong but fear of failure is worse than failure. Perhaps I will write a paper on my experience and submit it to the USDA. Thanks for the replies and kind words.
I obviously don’t follow all the guidelines either – if I did I wouldn’t be able to can much of anything I want, and my beans would be mush! If you try the 1/2 gallon jar experiment, will you let us know how it turns out? Have you ever dry canned potatoes? I’ve been tempted to try.
Half Gallon Canning
This is a reflection of an experience not a “how to” guide:
I used a Presto Model 0178107 23 quart Pressure Cooker for this trial. This Pressure Cooker operated differently from my 21 quart Pressure Cookers. I was not accustom to regulating pressure by adjusting the heat level and finding the “sweet spot” on the proper burner of the propane stove. I ended up ranging from 10 lbs to 14 lbs of pressure before I got the hang of it. For the sake of data logging I used BALL wide mouth Half Gallon canning jars. Two with Ball lids and two with Kerr lids because some wide mouth lids tend to bend at the edge under pressure. I cleaned the half gallon wide mouth jars and beans and concocted my favorite mixture of ingredients. In this case it was two cups of dry sorted beans, two teaspoons of canning salt and two teaspoons of Chili powder and filling to the desired level with warm water.
From that point I use my own little procedure that works for me. I added three quarts of warm water to the pressure cooker and placed the four filled half gallon jars into the pressure cooker without lids and rings. I turned on the heat and waited for the magic to happen. I checked the temperature of the fluid in the jars using an ACU-RITE digital thermometer until about 160 degrees F. At his point I slowly stirred the contents slowly using a wooden spoon and reached down to the bottom of the jar. At 180 degrees F I stirred again to insure I was getting a temp reading from the entire contents instead of the top layer. At 190 degrees I removed the jars, one at a time, and cleaned the rim, installed the heated lid and ring, tightened and placed them back into the pressure cooker. After completing all four jars I placed the lid on the pressure cooker and proceeded by standard protocol.
To determine the process time I referred to the USDA process times for beans using a dial gauge pressure canner. They call for 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts. That would be an increment of 15 minutes per pint over the original pint. Since my jars were one quart larger than a single quart that would be 2 pints at 15 minutes per pint, to equal the second quart. Which totals 90 + 15 +15 = 120 minutes or 2 hours of process time.
Upon cool down all four jars came out great. Both the Ball and Kerr lids held up without a flaw as expected. However depending on the taste of the person canning their own beans each jar contains about 2/3 cooked beans and 1/3 bean juice. The beans have swelled very large and some have begin to split indicating that they are very well cooked. Doubling the quart recipe was inadequate for filling the jars with cooked beans. To tweak the recipe I will increase from two cups of beans to two and 1/8 with the 1/8 mounded over a little bit.
To satisfy everyone, including myself, I intend to store these at room temp without the rings. I will open one every three months until the end of one year to insure they are well sealed and safe to eat. I can hear the lids popping now as they cool down. It is going to be a long three months. I will keep you posted.
Do you have an update on your half gallon jars Jerry? It’s been a year and I’m curious what your results have been.
All four jars have been consumed with no ill effects. All had good seals when opening. We opened the last two about two weeks ago for a small party. The beans tasted just like they did out of a quart jar. It didn’t make sense to open a half gallon of beans for just two people during the COVID lockdown but since Texas is opened life is back to normal.
Jamie, Jerry, Laura 😁,
Interjecting here,
concerning 1/2 gallon jars. Besides the issue of reaching and maintaining the 240° temp, my concern would be nutritional value. IMHO, processing foods for only the minimum amount to insure safety would produce the best quality and nutritious product.
I would rather so two smaller jars than one huge jar. Plus, if the jar doesnt seal, you’ve got a lot of product to deal with. And if the seal breaks later, you’ve lost more food. I’m canning to be prepared for an emergency and would only want to want to only open as little product as needed for a meal since there would likely be no refrigeration available in a crisis.
Just my 2 cents fwiw. 😀
I agree with you about opening as little as possible for a meal. In this part of the country we have large family outings and large Bar-B-Q’s.
I have cooked a 32 quart pot of beans for a wedding with 500 people. This wasn’t a commercial event, this was for a nephew. The time I could have saved if I had pre-canned the beans would have been welcomed and allowed more time to tend to the Bar-B-Q. Two of us cooked all night and we were exhausted. Half gallons are not for all occasions but very helpful in some.
Laura. How long do you can a quart of milk. I have seen videos that show from 1 to 15 minutes. I have accessed more milk than our family or neighbors can consume, my freezers are getting full and I need to start canning milk. Please give me your procedure. Thanks.
Hi Jerry! I have never canned milk before. If you try it, let me know how it goes. For my long-term storage, I buy low-fat powdered milk.
After a lot more research I am not willing to attempt canning liquid milk. The threat of botulism has a large potential regardless of the claims of some internet You Tube publishers. Milk is a different creature as far as edible food supplies are concerned.
The math also doesn’t add up for canning liquid milk. If I canned a pint of milk in a pressure cooker I would have one pint of milk with a condensed milk taste. If I oven canned a pint of powdered milk it would produce one quart of milk with the addition of the required four cups of water. I would require less storage space for the end product with the peace of mind that I or my family will not require hospitalization.
I will stand with our oven canned powdered milk.
Yeah, I won’t be canninig milk either. I canned tomato soup and left the cheese and cream out, and will add when we open the jars. I’m a bit of a rebel canner, but I have to feel 100 percent certain about it. I do think it’s curious though Ball says to add butter to jam to take down the foaming. If you aren’t supposed to can dairy, why is that ok?
Hi,
I just got my Mirro 22 quart pressure canner and have tons of beans to can. Never canned before. I like the idea of canning dry. Much less work ahead and as I have a broken leg I am unable to stand for very long and only on 1 leg!
My question is… I’d like to start with chickpeas and they are harder than pintos, etc. ok to dry can them as well?
Oh my regarding your leg! I broke my leg before and I know how challenging it can be. I would make sure you have someone who can help you if needed canning on one leg. Chickpeas aren’t harder than any other bean. My only exception with dry canning beans is with navy beans, if you are canning them in a thick sauce you will want to soak those first. I did maple beans with dried navy beans and they didn’t cook all the way through. Otherwise, dry canning makes for a perfect bean, but I wanted to remind you the USDA has not approved this method and it’s considered rebel. Along with many other bloggers, this is how I do it with great success but you need to make that decision for yourself. :) I’m excited for you about your new canning journey!
Hi Laura,
I have not found where to add a comment without taggin into a thread, but here you answered me and I wanted to update. Leg is healing and I am again two legged, but one will be crooked forever. Lol
My canning is “humming” right along. Chickpeas came out best ever! I could never get them soft like store canned, no matter how much I soaked them when cooking stovetop. These were perfect! Soft but not mushy.
I even did carrots, hot water packed but not blanched. Great!
Now I want to do a nine bean soup, with some spices and barley. Dried method. Any suggestions?
It was so great to open my jar of beans when needed. Did pintos with chipotle in adobo (canned from store) peppers. That gave a nice smoky flavor to the beans but not too hot.
It would be great to can Succotash like my great grandpa used to make. Recipe?
Thanks for all the great ideas!
I can bone in chicken in half gallon jars and have done so for years. I learned this from the Hutterites colonies in Canada. Cut the backside of the chickens and use the backs to make chicken bone broth then fill your jars with bone in chicken and ladle broth made from the backs of the chickens to 1 inch head space the process for 108 minutes.
I have often thought about canning pre-cooked and deboned chicken for making gumbo. My pots of gumbo require about 40lbs of raw chicken and the entire process sometimes require two days at my age. I often use a chicken and turkey mix because the spices blend the flavors very well after adding in 5lbs of smoked sausage. It would make the process a lot easier to have half gallon jars of meat that is cooked and ready to use. Do you think I should extend the canning time for deboned meat due to the greater density of the contents.
Hi Jerry, that is a very interesting method! I’ve not heard of that one before. Regarding half gallon jars, like Laura said, it’s only been approved for juice. I actually wrote the USDA and asked them to please consider putting some effort into doing more safe canning research, including half gallon jars! I would love to can soup in half gallon jars if I could get a safe time from them.
If you are talking about Oven Canning yes I have done potatoes but they were shredded and dehydrated. I can’t testify to the time they could be stored because we needed them about 6 months later. I have Oven Canned Flour and stored and used it 12 years later but I also used oxygen absorbers in the jars. It made great bread and rolls.
We are in Hurricane country and have been isolated for two weeks, in the past, with three teen age Grandsons. We stock a lot of food and supplies due to our location.
I will be making pickles the next few days but I intend to experiment on the half gallons early next week.
Jerry, not oven canning, dry canning where you put raw potatoes in a quart jar without water and can as usual. People are doing this with carrots and potatoes, but I haven’t tried it yet. You should look up dry canning potatoes on You Tube. Be interested to know what you think too.
I have dry canned hamburger. Cooked it in a skillet till brown and canned cooked meat in pint jars. Great for tacos or spaghetti. I’ll have to try the potatoes. I’ve canned them in water but never dry. Plus I have dry canned sausage as a backup in case I run out while making gumbo. Canned gumbo is my first choice as a MRE.
I dry canned hamburger too and thought it was dry. Home canned ground beef is a bit soft when canned in water, but it’s great to have on hand! It does much better in something like a pasta sauce.
I looked at the You Tube videos and gave it a try. I Dry Canned 9 pints of Irish potatoes without a problem. All sealed and look great. I pressure cooked them for 40 minutes to be on the safe side. For reference it took 10 lbs of potatoes to make 9 pints.
Glad it turned out, Jerry! I saw a video of canning fingerlings. I really want to try that if I can find a good deal!
This is not an experiment but tried and true. If you like Ranch Style Beans try this. For a quart of beans add your normal 1 teaspoon of canning salt then add 1 teaspoon of Chili Powder and 4 teaspoons of McCormick TACO Original Seasoning Mix. Taste better than store bought.
I always add 1 teaspoon of chili powder to my quarts of beans before canning to enhance flavor. In a tight situation I had ran out of Ranch Style Beans so I opened a quart jar of regular beans that contained chili powder and simmered them with 4 teaspoons of Taco Seasoning Mix for about 30 minutes. It tasted the same and it fooled the Grandsons. Give it a try.
Jerry, I will have to give that a try for sure! I love playing around with flavored beans! I tired lime jalapeno beans last time, but didn’t add enough of the flavorings. My spicy pintos are awesome though! Your recipe sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
If you like spicy pintos try this.
Per quart after adding 1 cup Dry Beans add:
4 tablespoons of finely diced Pickled Jalapeno Peppers
4 tablespoons of finely diced white or yellow onion
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon canning salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground dried Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Ground dried Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Dried Ground Cayenne Pepper
add the proper amount of water and stir slowly with a wooden spoon in the jar. Follow the remaining normal canning procedures.
You can mash the finished product and use as bean dip or eat it cold straight from the jar as some of my neighbors have. You may need a mask when adding the cayenne pepper. I have made 32 pints and 7 quarts in the past 2 months.
Yum! I have a ton of pickled jalapenos I jarred up a few years ago. Will try. Thank you!
I have pressure canned beans for many years. I usually soak my beans for 12 hours and then sprout for 12 hours or so rinsing several times. Then I cook them in filtered water until the beans come to a boil (10-15 min) They are then loaded into the jars and pressure cannes for 90 min.
I want to stop pre-cooking them before canning because the beans often break apart and get mushy.
I will combine the 2 systems, 1st rehydrating and sprouting my beans fully hydrating them. Then I will load them in the jars and add boiling water and salt so they do have a chance to get hot before the pressure canning starts. No precook but definitely pre-soak.
Density and how the heat from pressure canning gets to the center is very important. With fully hydrated beans in jars with boiling water that cook in the canner for 10-20 minutes before it gets up to pressure should be enough precooking. Then 90 minutes at 240º. That should not be a risky method. Will do more research on pressure canning them dry but I love sprouting them first for digestibility.
Laura, I’m interested in using your sprouting method (for digestion also), but are the beans still firm and hold their shape once they’re canned?
I have a quick question. I just canned bean for the first time today.. I just realized that I actually put in double the amount of beans than I was supposed to. Will they still be safe? So per pint I added 1 C beans & filled with boiling water to 1″ headspace. Quarts 2 C beans…. :/
I dunno how did they do?
I would think safe, but likely very raw/undercooked
I agree on the undercooked comment but don’t throw them away. Empty several jars into a slow cooker and complete the cooking. They are half way there but very thirsty so add some water to the pot.
Angela, I’m surprised the tops did not buckle? Are the beans hard, or soft?
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