Quick green bean canning question

[Mandomom]

I'm very new to canning and a rather pathetic gardener as well so forgive me a silly question. I am following the Blue Book's canning guide to green beans. I have been very busy and when we got out there to harvest, perhaps as many as 1/4 were a bit beyond what the directions describe as "young, tender, and crisp", which is what the cooking time is for. (How do you be tender and crisp at the same time though?) What is too ripe to throw in the jars? The ones I refer to are still green, but they are maybe a quarter tone lighter with bigger beans inside. Should I leave those out? Most of the bush beans seemed to be either under ripe or like I described. Is it partially due to the type of bean then? The vine ones were almost all thinner and a darker green.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[K_L]

The larger ones with seeds will not be as nice after they are canned. Different varieties of beans are some times different colors, but they are usually all good if they don't have the developed beans inside.

edited to add

Beans grow continually until frost. so you really need to pick them at least every other day, for fresh tender beans. After you get as many as you want to can, let the beans mature on the plants and if it is an herloom/ open polinated variaty you can save the seeds for next year. I have found that most beans are open polinated or herlooms.

 

[Virginia]

I was checking on this the other day, because we know someone who likes them large with beans inside. The new BB says nothing about canning the more mature beans, as far as I can find, but I remembered that we used to call them "shelly" beans because you could shell them and get the beans out or just eat them with the beans inside the green pod. The older books say to can 20 to 25 minutes longer if you have them at the shelly stage. However, I am wondering if they no longer advise canning these.

[Mandomom]

I was checking on this the other day, because we know someone who likes them large with beans inside. The new BB says nothing about canning the more mature beans, as far as I can find, but I remembered that we used to call them "shelly" beans because you could shell them and get the beans out or just eat them with the beans inside the green pod. The older books say to can 20 to 25 minutes longer if you have them at the shelly stage. However, I am wondering if they no longer advise canning these.

 

Hmmm... I have some old canning books that may give more details, since the new one only says "canning time for young, tender, crisp" or something like that. No details on the more mature ones. I'm green bean ignorant though. I took out all of those that were obviously over grown, where the beans start turning a white color. Some of those I canned had the bean formed, but they were still smaller and more tightly encased, still snapped, but technically you could "shell" them still. I just finished processing them for 20 minutes. Do you think I should reprocess them longer, just in case? Perhaps process longer like they were beans, not green beans?

[Mandomom]

Oops. Duplicate.

[Virginia]

Don't know what Violet would say, but if mine have small beans inside and they still snap easily, I go ahead and can them as usual.

 

Once they get shelly, I think the pods are so tough and waxy (or something) that I just cannot eat them.

[Violet]

Normally if the green beans will snap and sound crisp, they are fine to can. If they seem sort of dry and "woody", then you would toss them. The more tender beans will taste best. You should know as you snap them if they are good or not.