Canning Bee #2: Green beans

Canning Bee #2 was GREEN BEANS grown in Mom's garden.

We used a pressure cooker to do this batch. I have a healthy fear of pressure cookers. I have 2 and I use them. But, I think it's better to be a bit weary of them than be overly cocky and open one before it's ready.... then you're scraping beans off the ceiling and hopefully keeping your eyebrows.

I hate breaking beans. One reason I love blogging: "I need to take pictures for my blog... here, you guys do this... " Oh how I wish that always worked :) The picture above is Dustin and my cousin, Sarah. Dustin just walked past and said "Is that us?" (as in me and him, haha). She and I go in spurts where we look alike and then we'll look nothing alike for a while. I've been hearing a lot lately how much we look alike, so we must be on the "look alike" spurt for now.

Ok, so break the beans, wash them off and then cram them into the jars.

And cram them some more.... (Me: green shirt. Sarah: white shirt) 

(Those high foreheads must be a trait from our mothers....)

Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt for each pint and fill jar with hot water leaving 1/2 inch of space from the top.

Have your mom check the jars by rubbing a damp paper towel around the tops. 

You want to make sure that no salt is on the rim or it can cause them not to seal. 

Heat up the lids and rings. We do this in a pitcher of hot water.

Put in the jars and fill the canner with water. You want the water to go about halfway up on the jars.
If you don't have enough jars filled with beans to fill the canner, put in an empty jar (or as many as you need) and fill them up with water.

Fasten on the lid...

Wait for the steam...

Watch the gauge.... (Pints of beans need to pressure at 10 lbs for 20 minutes)

The above gauge is off of Mom's... the one below is from my small pressure cooker. I just set the "jiggler" to what pressure I need and then just listen for the jiggle noise for 20 minutes. It's a bit irritating, but I don't have to physically watch it as much as Mom does hers.

Let them do their magic; listen for the 'pops' of the tops and VOILA! Fresh green beans for the winter.

Please note--- I am not a substitute for your canner/pressure cooker's directions. Make sure you read them too :) 

Up next: SALSA!

Miss Canning Bee #1? It's right here!