Beans...and Beans...and MORE Beans...

[TurtleMama]

This morning, I decided that I was going to can some beans. Seeing as how I have a total of about 100 pounds of dry beans hanging around my house, it seemed like a good idea. Out came my canner and trusty Ball Blue Book. The recipe said to use 2 1/4 pounds of beans per quart canned. That seemed like a lot of beans, but like a good little canner, I followed the recipe. For six quarts, I figured I'd need 13.5 pounds of beans. I measured them out, half black and half pinto, and began to soak and cook them. Two pots of beans turned into four as they rehydrated, and my stove was filled with pots-o-beans. As I started ladling them into my clean, hot jars, I realized -- I HAVE TOO MANY FREAKIN' BEANS!!!!

 

Now I have:

6 quarts of beans rocking away in the pressure canner

A large pot of beans on the stove (destined to become refried beans)

An 8-liter pressure cooker full of cuban-seasoned black beans that just came down from cooking

Two crock pots of chili, one with black beans, one with pinto beans

 

Fortunately, I have friends and family to share these beans with, and a freezer to keep the rest in!!!!

 

I never knew that I could cook thirteen and a half pounds of beans in one day, in five different ways, but now I know I can!!

 

SO...my question is this. Is it okay to use one pound of beans per quart jar in the future???? So that I'm not overwhelmed with beans again??? Anyone? hehehe

[CrabGrassAcres]

An average of 5 pounds of beans is needed per

canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 3 1/4 pounds is

needed per canner load of 9 pints - an average of 3/4

pounds per quart.

http://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/mod01/01600236.html

 

I measure the dry beans and use 1 cup dry beans for each 1 qt jar.

 

I'm canning dry beans today too. Will be canning them all day tomorrow. 3 loads today and 3 tomorrow and that should keep daughter happy for a while. She LOVES beans.

[HazelStone]

The recipe said to use 2 1/4 pounds of beans per quart canned. That seemed like a lot of beans, but like a good little canner, I followed the recipe. For six quarts, I figured I'd need 13.5 pounds of beans. I measured them out, half black and half pinto, and began to soak and cook them. Two pots of beans turned into four as they rehydrated, and my stove was filled with pots-o-beans. As I started ladling them into my clean, hot jars, I realized -- I HAVE TOO MANY FREAKIN' BEANS!!!!

 

 

Took me a couple seconds to get the punchline...oh man! Isn't it fun trying new things?

[Violet]

Holy Cow !! I laughed so hard.... That is a LOT of beans ! Goodness. I will have to look at my Ball Book and make a note.

I do hope you got all those beans taken care of. It may not have seemed funny at the time, but I could just picture you and all those pans of beans.

[Amishway Homesteaders]

we have the same trouble.................

when you read a recipe and it called for 4 pounds of this or 3 qts. of that - how do you know if dry would turn out the same as fresh. Like with the beans, we know they would swell up but how to figure out how much so we don't make to much for canning?

Come on Violet - there must be a chart SOMEWHERE? LOL

 

 

 

 

 

[Cat]

Yeah, I can do that just making soup! Seems I can't make a small pot of chili, or bean soup, or any of those "keep adding stuff" dishes.

 

 

Hey, at least you know what to do and where to take them. You can pass on a "bean blessing"!!!!

 

 

 

 

[TurtleMama]

Oh my goodness...it was a bean blessing!! I wound up with SOOOOOO many bean dishes...gave some to my Mom and Dad and some of our neighbors! hehehe Now I have about seven containers of frozen chili, two containers of frozen cuban black beans, a container of frozen mexican pintos, a huge thing of refried beans in the fridge, and, of course, my six quarts of canned beans. Thirteen and a half pounds of dry beans makes a HUGE amount of cooked beans!!! LOL

 

Violet, you're right...at the time, I was just fluttering around my kitchen, totally overwhelmed, and my husband was just laughing at me -- right along with you, Violet! hehehe At first, all I could say was, "I wish I had another canner! This is why I need two canners!" By the end of the day, we were talking about how lucky we were that we have all that food (and that we know what to do with that many beans!). It was a good lesson in many ways! But I think that from now on, I'll only use about a pound of beans per quart... Ahhh, the adventures of canning!

 

The good thing is, I won't have to cook for a LOOOOONG time, unless I really want to!

[Jake]

I really like having canned beans on hand, it seems like if they are in dry form I never use them because it is easier to use a can from the store to make chili but if I have my own canned they get used up. I got a deal on beans from the Amish store nearby a while back and had one of those bean canning days that I thought would never end also.