National Can-It-Forward Day!!!

Happy National Can-it-Forward Day!!!

Ball sent me a fun care package to celebrate Can-It-Forward day.

I enjoy making my local food share last year round (more to come!) or as long as I can make them last. Last year I ordered extra green beans and blanched and froze the beans. This was a long process but we enjoyed having the extra beans. This year, I ordered 5 lbs of green beans just for my Can-It-Forward project. I decided that I wanted to try canning green beans.

After reading the Ball Blue Book on Canning green beans, I went to the web. I searched for videos and came across this Ball YouTube video on Canning green beans raw. Such a helpful video! Canning greens beans made simple!

Here are pictures and a brief description of what I did.

PREPARE pressure canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
WASH and rinse beans thoroughly. Remove string, trim ends and break or cut freshly gathered beans into 2-inch pieces. Place prepared beans in a large saucepan and cover with boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes.

PACK hot beans into hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace.
LADLE boiling water over beans leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.
PROCESS filled jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Note: The processing time given applies only to young, tender pods. Beans that have almost reached the “shell-out” stage require a longer processing time. Increase processing time 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts.

I am hooked!!! I cannot wait to can more green beans, along with my salsa, tomato sauce and I might even attempt to can ketchup/bbq sauce. We will see! But now I need to get a pressure canner. Thanks Jen from The Sprouted Life for allowing me to use your pressure canner!