I don’t know about any of you, but the thought of using a pressure canner has been something that stressed me out to think about for a long time.
Recently I decided to tackle it head on and try my hand at canning green beans. Because green beans are less acidic than canning items like jams and tomato sauce, to ensure it has a full seal and is safe to store and eat later, you need to use a pressure canner.
I’ve skipped the whole section of cleaning and preparing the beans, as well as how to prep your jars and lids, since I plan on going over both those processes in the future.
So, let's jump right into the canning!
Check out the full process in my YouTube video
Step 1
Before we actually do anything with our jars, we’re going to set up the pressure canner so it’s ready to go, since the water heating up takes the longest amount of time.
We want there to be enough water in the pot to sit 2 inches over the jars, but we can get this fully set up later when our jars are prepped and ready to go.
The recipe that I was following called for 2 quarts of water in the pot. After adding this, I ended up needing 24 additional cups of water to fully cover my 7 jars. I set the heat on medium to start the heating process.
Step 2
Now we’re going to fill our jars. Doesn’t matter how well you pack them, there will be gaps between the beans, and that’s perfectly fine!
I normally cover the top of the jar with my hand and give them a good shake to settle the beans as much as I can before adding anything else.
I had enough to perfectly fill 7 jars.
Step 3
During this section, we’re going to get a pot of water on the stove and heating up to an almost boil.
Next, we’re going to add salt to our jars. This step is optional, but I personally think it helps with the flavor.
Regular table salt is perfectly fine to use in canning, but the additives in it will cause your water to look cloudy, which is why most recipes call for purer forms of salt or canning salt. Again, regular table salt is safe, it just won’t look as beautiful and Instagram perfect.
For pint jars, you’re going to want to use a ½ tsp, if you are canning in quart jars you’ll want to use a full tsp.
Step 4
Take your hot water and carefully pour into the jars over your beans and salt. You want to leave an inch of headspace. Headspace is the distance from the rim of the jar to the top of the contents of the jar.
Step 5
Using a narrow spatula or chopstick, gently move the contents of the jar around to help release the air bubbles trapped in the beans. Another method you can do is to very gently tap the jars on a soft surface, like a folded towel.
Most likely you’ll need to add more of that hot water to make sure your headspace is at the 1 inch mark again.
Step 6
We want to make sure our lids have a clean seal so bacteria don’t have a chance to get in and grow, so we’re going to wipe around the rim of the jar with a clean, damp towel.
Now we can set the lids on top and screw on the rims so they’re finger tight.
Step 7
Now we add the jars to the water! They need to sit flat, and none of them should touch, so they don’t knock against each other and crack or break. My pressure canner easily fits 7 pint jars in one batch.
Again, double check that the surface of the water is at least 2 inches above the tops of the jars. This ensures that the water won’t boil down past the tops of the jars and cause issues in the canning process.
Put the pressure canner lid on and lock it into place. My canner doesn’t lock until pressure actually builds up in the pot.
Wait until steam starts coming from the spout, we’re going to pop on our 10 lb canning weight onto it. Once your pot has sealed, set a timer for 20 minutes, and let it boil away. Like I mentioned before, my pot doesn’t actually lock until pressure has built up in the pot, so once I’ve set on my weight, I went ahead and started my timer.
Keep a close eye to the weight to make sure it stays pretty close to 10 lbs, you can easily do this by adjusting your heat. Depending on your canner’s age, you might not even have to touch the temp at all.
Step 8
Once your alarm goes off, turn off the heat and let the pressure gage return to zero. With mine, there is no gage, just the button on the side that indicates whether it’s fully sealed or not. Once that lock drops down, I knew that the pressure was back to zero and I was able to take the lid off.
This is one of the more dangerous sections, so be careful! Use hot mitts to remove the canning weight and remove the lid. Always make sure to open it away from your face so any excess steam doesn’t burn you!
Step 9
The best way to take your jars out is using a jar lifter.
Set your jars on a wire cooling rack, clean counter space, or a towel laid out flat. I felt adventurous and used a thick wooden cutting board.
Step 10
This is the final step!
Your jars need to cool, and as they’re cooling you should hear the lids popping. This is your indicator that the seal was successful and your jars can be stored.
Any jars that don’t pop, you’ll be able to press the middle of the lid up and down to test this, will need to be refrigerated and eaten sooner rather than later.
And look at your beautiful canned beans!
Thank you for joining for this learning experience, hopefully we’ll get to try some more exciting recipes in the future.
Hope you all have a freaking awesome rest of your week, and I’ll catch you next time!
-Alyx
