Best Green Beans For Canning

Freshly harvested green beans can be canned easily so they can be stored or preserved for year-round use. Best green beans for canning are what we would be looking at in this post.

Green bean which is also referred to as string beans is an easy vegetable to be grown in our garden and they tend to be quite productive.

It can be a pretty good idea to can your beans especially if you don’t want to freeze them. Canning beans can help preserve or store your green beans for some good time. So, you can preserve your green beans through canning during their offseason.

Best green beans for canning are what you should look into if you plan on preserving some certain green beans varieties. So, you are in luck if the best green beans for canning are what you wish to know.

Best Green Beans For Canning

Green beans usually come in two styles which are bush beans and pole beans. So, we will be looking at both pole beans and green beans and mention some varieties that are great for canning.

For pole beans, some of the varieties that are great for canning include:

• Kentucky wonder
• Blue lake FM-1

For bush bean variety, some of the best green bean variety for canning includes:

• Refugee
• Provider
• Contender
• Goldmine
• Strike
• Stringless green pod
• Blue lake 274
• Tendergreen

Now that we have seen some of the best varieties of green beans for canning, let’s further look into how the canning process is done.

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Preparation Of Cans

Select the canning jars you will be using to can your beans. Then make sure you scrutinize these jars and ensure there are no cracks in the glass. Go ahead and wash these jars in a hot and soapy water, then rinse them properly.

Further, sterilize the jars by rinsing them a second time using boiling water. Also, the bands of the jar should as well be sterilized before you use them.

It may please you to know that green beans homed canned beans usually have a better taste commercially canned beans you purchase from the store.

You can avoid that metallic flavor and because salt is used for only flavoring in canned beans, you can just leave that part. So, this gives you full control over the amount of sodium you will be using in your canned beans.

Ball Regular Mouth 16-Ounces Mason Jar with Lids and Bands (12-Units), 12-Pack

Green Beans Preparation

You should select the appropriate green beans for canning to ensure smooth canning. Do a snap test with your green beans and select only crispy and tender pods. For instance, try to bend one of the fresh beans you’ve picked and if it snaps, then the beans are fresh and ready for canning.

Once the green beans are old and limp, it is usually not ideal to be used for canning. This is because this type of old and limping green beans will tend to taste bad. Hence, make sure you properly sort your beans for canning.

Any green bean that is showing signs of sogginess, wilting, spoilage or damage from insects should be thrown away.

How To Properly Can Green Beans

Here is how you can properly can your green beans:

·         Pressure Canner

Green beans are low acid food so they can only be safely canned with the use of a pressure canner. This is used to achieve a high temperature that is needed to eliminate organisms that may cause food-borne illness.

·         Fresh Green Beans Should Be Harvested

Ideally, harvesting green beans should be done during their prime as this is the period they will feel tender and small to medium size.

Green beans are fast growers so it is ideal you pick them every day so they won’t grow too big. Choose green beans that are small to medium then tender and crisp to get the best quality of canned beans.

Even though the large or seedy pods can still taste fine when you eat them, they however won’t hold that much when it comes to canning them. These types of beans usually get soft and even add unwanted starch that makes the canned jar become cloudy.

Again, your green beans can be washed and stored initially in your bean zipper bags in the refrigerator for a couple of days until you have enough cans to load up your green beans.

·         Raw Pack Or Hot Pack Method

You can pack your green beans into the canning jar using either by using the raw pack or hot pack method.

Raw pack refers to a cold pack and this means filling the canning jars with raw beans then covering them with boiling water.

Then when it comes to the hot packing method, the green beans are firstly cooked partially. Then they are packed into the canning jar and covered with boiling water.

So, we can see that the raw pack is faster because there is no need for partial cooking. However, the hot pack method also has its advantages.

Partially cooking these beans make them softer so it can create more space when you’re shoving them into the canned jar. Air is also removed from the tissue and this helps enhance the quality and shelf life.

·         Canner Cooling

You need to ensure some time is given for the canner to cool down naturally and don’t try to rush the cooling. Once your green bean is cooled, then they are ready to be canned.

Conclusion On Best Green Beans For Canning

Canning beans can help you prolong the self-life. Best green beans for canning have been listed in this article and how you can properly can your green beans have been explained.

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