Preserving: Canning Green Beans in Ten Steps

Green beans are one of my favorite vegetables. With an abundance of green beans on hand this year, supplemented with some in season from the local grocery, I processed 14 quarts and 19 pints of green beans for this winter. Mom and I did the job over a three days, two hours at a time. Initially, I thought it would be a much bigger job, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really pretty simple and very rewarding.

Green beans are a low acid vegetable, as are most veggies you’d want to can with the exception of tomatoes and pickled items. To preserve low acid veggies through canning, you’ll need a pressure canner similar to this one:

Step 1: Wash the beans thoroughtly. Remove the stem and blossom ends or any strings. Cut the beans into one inch pieces.

Here are the beans after cutting:

Step 2: Pack the beans tightly in clean Mason jars using a canning funnel, leaving one inch of space at the top.

Step 3: Cover the jarred beans with boiling water, leaving one inch headspace. Add one teaspoon of salt to the jar. Wipe the mouth of the jar to eliminate any specks of salt or debris, as this will hinder the lids from sealing tightly.

Step 4: Place lids and rings on the jars, tighten.

Step 5: Add beans to your pressure canner. Our canner fit 7 Quarts or 20 Pints easily.

Step 6: Process beans according to your pressure canner’s instruction manual.

With this particular pressure cooker, it has a vent pipe on top. Exhaust the air from the canner by adjusting the heat to a relatively high setting to obtain a free flow of steam from the vent pipe.

Step 7: Reduce heat to maintain a moderate steam flow for approximately 10 minutes, then place the pressure regulator on the vent pipe. 

Over pressure plug should rise within a minute or two to signal the canner is sealed and the pressure will start.

Step 8: Set burner to high heat until pressure gauge reaches 9 pounds. The goal is 11 pounds, but at this point, turn the burner down slowly over several minutes to reach 11. To excede 11 pounds would make the beans mushy.

Step 9: Processing time begins when you reach correct pressure. 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts. Maintain the pressure by continually monitoring the gauge and burner.

Step 10: At the end of the processing time, turn the burner off. Let the pressure drop on it’s own. Pressure is completely reduced when air vent/cover lock and pressure plug have dropped and no steam escapes when the pressure regulator is tilted. At this point it is safe to open the canner.

Enjoy your green beans-I know we will!

Thanks so much to my mom for helping teach me to can, and for help in writing this post!