Canning Dry Beans - Pinto, Kidney, etc.

Last week was a busy week, but I decided to add to my busyness by canning a batch of pinto beans. :) I ran out of canned beans and I love having them on hand. I've posted about pressure cookers - I cook a lot of beans in my pressure cooker and it is really nice to be able to cook them from start to finish in about an hour for most beans (including soaking). Some days, however, the pressure cooker is still not fast enough for me. I love having some jars of canned beans on hand that I can just open and pop in a recipe. I could buy the canned beans, but I've decided to can my own, mainly for the experience but also because I store dry beans that I like to rotate.

Ask your local extension service how to can dry beans for your altitude. I pre-soak them for 12-18 hours and then cook them for 30 min. I then hot-pack them into hot quart jars leaving 1 inch headspace and pressure can them for 1 hour 30 min at 15 lbs. pressure. They turn out wonderful - very tender. Remember to make sure you follow canning recipes that are tested for your altitude exactly. To ensure safety, only use recipes that are verified by your state extension service.

Just FYI, two #10 cans of pinto beans (about 10 lbs.) made 19 qts. of canned beans. It took me the good part of a day, so plan on doing it when you have a lot of time! Here's some pictures: