Canning Dry Beans

I have been trying to can for a few years now, even before we decided to start homesteading and/or become self-sufficient. Canning is something that I started doing simply to cut back on the amount of money that we were spending on groceries. It doesn’t sound like much but over time it saves a lot of both time and money.
Money because dry beans are way cheaper that canned beans. Time because to cook dry beans one supper at a time, adds up. I can spend a few hours canning a bunch of dry beans to use down the road. I will just need to warm them up.

Start with your desired amount of beans that you want to can. I still haven’t figured out how many beans it takes to fill up how many jars so I just estimate what I think and adjust to quart or pint jars.
Bring your beans to a hard boil for 20 minutes.
While waiting for the beans grab your tools. I get a stainless steel pot for water, pressure canner, jars, lids, rings, ladle, and funnel.
Prepare your jars. I simply give mine a good wash in hot soapy water and rinse.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. This last time I had about 7lbs of beans and boiled up about a gallon of water for 11 quart jars.
Prepare your canner with about 2 inches of water and start it on high.
By now your beans should be ready, drain them.
Now you start putting your beans in the jars, leave enough room for your beans to swell during the canning process. Typically about 3-4 inches from the rim.

Once your jars are full, start ladling in the boiling water leaving one inch of head space.
Put on your lids and rings. You want your rings tightened down to finger tight.
Add the jars to the canner. My canner holds 7 quart jars.
Put the lid on your canner without the pressure regulator.
The next little bit will be time consuming as you have to wait for steady flow of steam from your vent.
Once you get a steady flow of steam, put the pressure regulator in place.

The pressure is going to start rising. You want to hold the canner at 10lbs of pressure for 30 minutes.

Remove your canner from the heat and allow it drop pressure and cool on its own. You don’t want to open the lid while it is under pressure.
After the pressure is gone and the canner has cooled enough to open the lid you can remove the jars (they will be really hot!) to cool.

Thanks for reading and HAPPY CANNING!