Food Safety Feature Articles
Many ways to preserve garden green beans
Tammy Roberts, MS, RD, LD, Nutrition and Health Education Specialist, Barton County, University of Missouri Extension
It won’t be long before gardeners will have lots of green beans. Some may have so many green beans they don’t know what to do with all of them. There are many ways you can preserve green beans so you are eating your garden’s bounty all winter long. Most people can or freeze their extra green beans, but you could also pickle or dry them for some interesting off-season eating.
If you’re canning your green beans, make sure you are using recipes that were published during or after 1989 — many canning processes changed after that year. Green beans can only be canned safely in a pressure canner. Quarts should be processed at 11 pounds of pressure for 25 minutes. If you’re using a weighted gauge canner, quarts should be processed for the same amount of time at 10 pounds of pressure.
If you’re canning green beans and live above 1,000 feet of sea level (like the southeast corner of Barton County), nothing changes if you’re using a dial pressure gauge. But, if you’re using a weighted gauge, use 15 pounds of pressure for 25 minutes.
An important thing to remember when freezing green beans is that they must be blanched before freezing them. Blanching stops the enzyme process that makes the beans continue to mature after they are picked. Green beans should be blanched for three minutes, then quick-cooled in ice water before put in the freezer.
The suitability for drying green beans is listed as being fair to good. They must be blanched for two minutes before they are placed in the dehydrator. For better texture, some people freeze the green beans for 30 to 40 minutes after blanching and before placing them in the food dehydrator. Drying time is eight to 14 hours.
Another option that many people don’t think about is pickling green beans. All pickled products must be processed in a boiling water bath canner to assure safety. Because they are processed in a boiling water bath canner for only five minutes, the jars should be sterilized before they are filled.
With all of these options, you can offer your family a great variety of foods from just one vegetable in your garden.
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Last update: Wednesday, July 01, 2009
