Canning Green Beans

Most nights we find ourselves out in the garden with a big basket picking green beans, which means the fridge is loaded with gallon bags of beans. At last count there were about five gallons in there, which is way more than we can eat before they go bad so it is canning season here.

Canning is a huge part of our summer, we spend a ton of time together snapping beans in the living room listening to old radio dramas or our favorite movies. Today we thought we would share the whole process with you.

What You Will Need:

First and foremost you are going to need a clean environment to work and a lot of green beans.  Everything below is linked to Amazon so you can easily find what you need.

Pressure Canner
Quart Canning Jars
Lids  (reusable lids are great and money, in the long run, find them HERE) & Rings
Magnetic Canning Lid Lifter
Jar Lifter
Bubble Remover
Towles
Hot Water

Related Article: Canning Crushed Tomatoes

Directions:

Step 1: Check all the jars and lids for cracks and nicks, discard any you find with them.

Step 2: Wash your jars and lids in hot water. Place the jars in a casserole dish in the oven with about an inch of water in the bottom. Turn your oven on as low as it will go (ours is 117F). While those heat up place the lids in a small pan with water and turn on low.

 Step 3: Wash beans then cut the ends of the beans off, remove strings and snap in uniform pieces.

Step 4: Pack beans into jars, pour hot water over the top, using the handle of a spoon or a bubble remover push the beans around to get rid of the air bubbles and add 1 teaspoon salt. Wipe off the rim of the jar, place a lid on the top and attach the ring over it. Don't over tighten it.

Step 5: Place jar in the pressure canner. Continue until full (7 quart jars)

Step 6: Put lid in canner and lock in place. Bring to a boil, leave the vent open until steam has escaped steadily for 10 minutes. Put weight on vent. Bring pressure to 10 lbs (for altitudes below 1,000 feet). Process quart jars for 20 minutes.

Step 7: When the timer goes off, pull canner off the heat DO NOT OPEN IT until the pressure has returned to zero. Remove gauge and let canner cool for 10 minutes before opening lid. Unfasten lid, and raise lid toward you to protect your face from the steam. Let the jars cool another 10 minutes before removing to a thick layer of towels. Allow to cool for 12 - 24 hours.

Step 8: After jars have cooled check the seal by pressing the center of the lid. If it pops it didn't seal properly throw it out. Wipe down the jar and lid and label. Store in a cool, dry, and dark place.

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Canning Peaches

I love these peaches.  Not only are they amazing tasting but they bring back such great memories.

My friends would come over and mom would open a jar for us and we would eat and eat these things. We would go through several jars. There is no sugar in it but they are sweet and really tasty. 

This is a great way to capture summer fruit at its peak and enjoy it all year long.  We use these just for eating, for a topping for yogurt, ice cream, peach crisp, dice them up and put them in your oatmeal, etc. Trust me, you will love them!

White Grape Juice

2-3 lbs Peaches 

Citric Acid 

 Related Post: Apple Orange Preserves

Related Post: Making Pepper Jack Cheese

Wash, peel, and slice peaches into a large pan filled with water and citric acid. This will keep your peaches from turning brown while you are working.  Place the finished peaches in the heated juice long enough to warm them. Ladle warm peaches & juice into warm jars leaving 1/2" head space. Using the handle of a long wooden spoon slide the handle down the inside of the jar and press the peaches to the center of the jar so all the air bubbles can escape.Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean cloth. Place the lid on top and screw down the ring. Place in a boiling water canner, processes pints 20 minutes and quarts (pictured above) for 25 minutes 

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Cranberry Relish

We love this recipe so much.  It is a tradition here at the cottage when the apple and pear orchard is heavy with fruit to whip out this recipe and start making our relish. It uses organic sugar, tart cranberries and normally bits of chopped apples or pears. Here is the recipe just on its own. Let us know what you think. 

Related post: How To Brine A Turkey 

1 Cup Organic Raw Sugar

1 Cup Water

12 oz Cranberries

Related Post: Mrs. Cottage's Delicious Dressing

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add cranberries and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot relish into pint jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, put the lid on and adjust the ring on top. Process in boiling-water canner for 10 minutes.

Canning Memories

    It is funny how family traditions shape you into who you are.  

Canning is part of my earliest memories.  Being outside with my bare feet in the soil and picking beans, corn, tomatoes with the itchy leaves, apples, pears, grapes, berries, peppers.  Big heavy baskets so big I couldn't carry them would be hefted to the kitchen and would line the wall.  Out came the big canners and grandma would be at the sink washing jars while mom and dad prepped the food and we would help. Red hands from peeling tomatoes and sticky fingers from shucking corn.  These are the things that made our childhood. 

Learning how to love the land and how to provide for the family by hard work and a great imagination.  It is something I can't imagine not having in my life and it has made me feel confident
as I get older that I will be able to one day provide for my own family. The joy of having some piping hot tomato soup and a grilled cheese in the frigid wintery months right out of our summer garden.  It is a blessing that keeps on giving.

Grandma lost her mother when she was very young so she learned the canning process from an older sister Anna (who all three of the Cottage Girls are named for and she is named after her Aunt with the same name AND we were born on her birthday). There are no photos of them canning but I can imagine there were hours of sweat and laughter involved. Hard work glues the family together and these are precious times and lasting memories.

Great Aunt Anna

Great Grandma Lula

  I am not sure where our great grandma learned the art.  Her own momma died when she was just a little one.  They must have learned from other women in the community.                             Anna had a huge garden and always canned the bounty from it to provide for her family. Pickles and peppers, tomatoes and beans there was never a shortage of goodies there and a rainbow of beauty on her kitchen shelves.  She and her husband dug out a basement under their home to make a kitchen for canning.

Grandma loved the garden and she was always out in it.  We, girls, loved to plant seed packs in the plastic pony packs and we would help grandma water and care for them.  She taught us how to treat them and love on them so they would provide for us. She had a green thumb to be sure.

She passed that love to our mom too. She taught her the secret of a great home canned salsa and the love that goes into home canning.

We caught on right there at her knee.   Mom and grandma never kept us away from the kitchen, we were cooking and baking very young. It was a gift.  We thought it was just normal, every child was raised this way.

But later, we discovered the gift.

This is one of our canning labels. Brianna is the one in the sailor suit, doesn't she look adorable?

Blooper reel! "Mommy it fell... down there..."

 Excuse the bad hair but if the table is no hint it had been a very long day... Herbs drying on the wall and a huge haul of blackberries and raspberries in the basket. Beans, cucumbers kale, peppers beans, broccoli. What a day!

Look at all of that wonderful food.  The best part is sharing with your friends and neighbors.

Mr. Cottage the comic... Shhh! Don't tell him we posted this!

7 Things To Do With Pears

Cranberry Pear Preserves

 2 Pounds Cranberries

3 Pears cored, peeled & chopped

3 Cups Sugar

2 Cups Water

1/2 Cup Honey

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepot, bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil gently until the gelling point. Remove from heat, skim foam off if needed. Ladle hot preserves into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, put the lid on and adjust the ring on top. Process in boiling-water canner for 15 minutes.


Pear Sauce

 2 1/2 -3 1/2 pounds pears per quart

water

sugar (optional)

Wash apples, drain, peel, core & quarter pears. Cook pears until soft in a large covered pan, with just enough water, to prevent sticking. Puree pears, then return them to a saucepot. Add 1/4 cup sugar per pound of apples or to taste. Bring to a boil and stir to prevent sticking. Maintain at a boil, while filling jars. Ladle sauce into jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Remove air bubbles, put the lid on top and adjust the ring on top. Process pints & quarts for 20 minutes in a boiling-water canner.



Cinnamon Pears In Juice

1- 1 1/2 Pounds Pears per pint of Ball Fruit-fresh produce protector

White Grape juice or apple Juice

Stick of Cinnamon

Wash pears; cut into halves, core, peel. Treat with fresh-fruit to prevent darkening, drain rinse and drain again. Cook pears in water one layer at a time until hot. Heat juice until just to a boil. Pack hot pears into pint jars cavity side down leaving 1/2 inch head space. Place a cinnamon stick in each jar. Ladle hot juice over pears again leaving 1/2 inch head space. Remove air bubbles, wipe the rim of the jar with a cloth or paper towel, put the lid on top and adjust the ring on top.  Process in a boiling-water canner for 20 minutes.

Pear Butter

6-7 pounds of pears

4 Cups organic raw sugar

1 Teaspoon grated orange peel

1/3 Cup orange juice

To prepare pear pulp: wash pears, core, peel and slice. Combine pears and 1/2 Cup water in a large saucepot, simmer until soft and puree (don't liquefy).

Butter: combine pear pulp and sugar in a large saucepot. Stir until sugar dissolves, add orange juice and orange peel. Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon, stir frequently to avoid it sticking. Ladle butter into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, put the lid on and adjust the ring on top. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Dried Pears


 Wash, core & peel pears. Cut into 1/2 inch slices, quarters or halves. Dry at 130 - 135 degrees. until leathery with no wet pockets. Put in a jar or plastic bag.

Pear Jam

4 Cups peeled, cored and finely chopped pears

7 1/2 Cups Organic Raw Sugar

1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

1 Pouch Liquid Pectin

Combine pears, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepot, bring slowly to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Stir in liquid pectin and return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stir constantly. Remove from heat, skim foam off the top if needed and ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4  inch head space. Put the lid on and adjust the ring on top. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.





Pear Pie Filling

6 pounds pears

 Ball fruit-fresh produce protector

2 cups raw organic sugar

1/4 cups organic flour

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Wash, peel, core and slice pears. Treat with Fruit-Fresh to keep from browning, combine sugar, flour & spices. Rinse, drain and stir into sugar mixture. Let stand until juices begin to flow (about 30 minutes) Stir in lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until it begins to thicken. Ladle pie filling into freezer safe containers and allow to cool at room temperature. Label and freeze.




Canning Crushed Tomatoes

74 Cups Whole Tomatoes

1/2 Cup Garlic Powder

1/4 Cup Onion Powder

1/4 Cup Dried Oregano

3/4 Cup Celtic Sea Salt

Wash tomatoes in a sink full of water and 5 drops of GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract). Dip tomatoes in batches into boiling water, leave them until the skin begins to crack and remove them to a bowl to cool. Continue until all tomatoes have been dipped in the water.

Begin skinning tomatoes (don't throw away the skins just put them in a separate bowl) Once tomatoes are skinned core them and then blend them. Pour the tomatoes into a big stock pot, then add garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and salt and heat.

Wash quart jars and place them in the oven in  a casserole dish 1/3 to 1/2 full of water on the lowest temperature you can set it on. Heat lids in a saucepan (do not boil), leave the jars and lids in water until ready to use. Fill boiling-water canner half full, put the rack in the canner and boil.

Begin filling the quart jars leaving a 1/2 inch from the top, wipe the rim of the jars, place a lid on top, screw the ring on top (don't over tighten the ring), and put the jars into the canner. Once full put the lid on top, and set the timer for 45 minutes.

Remove to a thickly toweled flat surface and allow to cool. Check the lids to make sure they have sealed properly if the lids pop up and down when you push on them they didn't seal properly- just put those ones in the fridge. Wipe down the outsides of the jars and lids with a damp washcloth. Label and store out of sunlight.