If you have large green beans production in your backyard but don’t know how to preserve them, don’t worry. Pack all the goodness and flavors of the green beans by canning green beans or freezing them. Once you know how to preserve it, you can relive the warmth during chilly days by enjoying green beans with your favorite casseroles or soups.
In this article, we’ll show you some great ways of canning and freezing green beans, preserving all the nutritions with them.
Green Beans
One of the most convenient yet prominent additions to many meals is commonly green beans. They go with everything so perfectly whether you eat it with steak as a side or grate some parmesan on it, making it a proper meal. Its crispy consistency is what makes it delicious all the way. Most people prefer buying a bulk of green beans and preserving it for complementing it with everything.
However, some of them are confused about which method is better for storing the green beans, considering the nutrients. Freezing is the most common way of preserving, which generally lasts longer than usual pressure-canned beans. Not only that but when blanched after freezing, it lets the green beans retain their original color and texturing too.
Canning Green Beans
How to Can Green Beans
When it comes to those green beans, every person will give his preservation advice. However, it is up to you to choose the right one. We have compiled supreme canning green beans methods, including pressure-can green beans and canning without a pressure canner. Let’s take a more in-depth look.
Pressure-Can Green Beans
First of all, you need to have a Pressure Canner.
There are five simple steps for storing your green beans with the method of pressure canning. This method will expertly preserve the taste and texture of green beans, taking you on a flavorful journey.
Initially, you have to prepare the beans you want to store by cutting them into small pieces of a maximum of one inch. Now, put those beans in a pan and boil them with water, covering the beans entirely. Give a solid five minutes and then drain.
Before jumping into the primary process, you have to get the canning jars ready. Thoroughly wash these jars and lids with soapy water and rinse them well. Add just water into the jars and sterilize them by boiling them for 10 minutes. For lids, you can warm them over low heat. Before usage, try to keep the lids and jars warm.
You can now remove the jars from the canner and line up on the kitchen towel upside down. Pack your beans cut in 1-inch pieces into the jars tightly as they are going to shrink afterward. You can add canning salts into it. You can remove air bubbles after it and add the lids after wiping the rips. Now, place those jars easily on the racks of pressure canner with water almost half-filled, as they’re ready for the pressure process.
You can now easily follow the directions as per the pressure canner and process it. After the procedure, cool the jar and leave it at room temperature for about 12 to 24 hours. This method is a little sophisticated; however, you can achieve the great taste and higher durability with this process’s help.
Water-bath Green Beans
Pressure canning is the most suitable way when you want to retain the natural flavor of green beans. But, keeping the nutrient value up side by side with the taste is what matters the most. For this purpose, you can try storing green beans in a water-bath canner.
For the water-bath canning process, you have to mix one part vinegar and two parts water and bring it to the boil. Whether you want to preserve your in a jar or can, pour that mixture on your green beans. You will observe that the flavor and nutrient value is automatically increased, providing you with the best garnish for your bloody Mary.
If the sole purpose of storing your beans is to make pickled green beans, then you’re on the right path. However, for long storage, you need to switch to the pressure canning process.
Why do You need to Can Green Beans?
There are many different methods of preserving beans. However, many people ask the reason for them anyways. You can store a considerable bulk of tomatoes, peas, and beans through canning. If you want these fresh summer vegetables to last all through the winter, try keeping them in cans.
Surprisingly, the canning process is super easy and effective. Once you’ve learned the art of canning and taste its richness, then you’ll never want to take another bite from the store-bought beans. After canning the beans, you can use a few tips to increase green beans’ durability to make sure not even a single bean gets into waste.
Here are some of the primary reasons why you should prefer canning your food.
Durability
One of the best reasons for canning your green bean produce is to increase its durability. Many people want to enjoy their summer vegetables in winter too; however, they don’t know the correct method of preserving and can take canned items from stores. This method will increase your green beans’ shelf life so that you can enjoy them throughout the year.
Taste
If you are one of the people to whom taste matters the most, try canning beans yourself and eat them afterward. You’ll see a visible enhancement in flavor with a rich and crispy texture making your every meal a masterpiece.
Increase Homemade Product Usage
As half of the world has gone vegan these days, some people are also there to reduce waste to make Earth healthy. For this purpose, it is essential to use homemade products with mesmerizing taste.
Healthy and Effective
One of the most healthy patterns lies in avoiding store products, especially vegetables. Green beans are mostly easy to grow; you can preserve them yourself and observe your health getting ten times stable than before.
Pickled Green Beans
If you want to make something without putting in a lot of effort but giving out more flavor, try some pickled green beans. These are some of the simplest yet flavor-packed dishes that take a snap to make. The massive burst of brines and spices gives you an enormous excitement boost. You don’t need any proper utensils or materials for making these delicious pickled green beans. It would be best if you had things you have in your kitchen cabinets.
These crispy, mouthwatering pickled green beans are ideal from being a low-calorie snack to a fascinating garnish for your homemade Bloody Mary, from being a cold side to just landing on a charcuterie board. This recipe is so easy that it calls you to make it.
It would be best if you began making a brine. Just mix sugar, salt, and vinegar into the water and boil with maximum heat. Cool the mixture after the salt and sugar are completely dissolved. Trim and thoroughly wash your beans as per your choice and stack them in a jar. Shove in your favorite spice with a clove of garlic into the jar. Top it with some fresh dill sprigs. Whether you dump everything in the jar or place it beautifully, it is all you the beans won’t mind.
Lastly, pour the brine mixture over the beans and spices and tightly seal the jar. Remove air bubbles by tapping the jar and wait for a week to see the best results.
How to Freeze Green Bean
Similar to canning, there are also two methods of freezing the beans. These include freezing with blanching and without blanching.
Freezing without Blanch
The most important thing about freezing is to choose the right type of green beans. You need to select the most tender and fresh beans for freezing, cook those holly or woody ones right away.
Wash and cut those beans freely as you like. You can now spread those beans on a banking sheet and flash it for an hour in your freezer. After then, you can remove the tray and put them into the air tights bags. Label them and place them securely into the freezer for future use.
Freezing with Blanch
Like the first method, cut the beans and put them into the pot filled with water to boil. Don’t overfill the pot with either water or even beans. You have to blanch a small number of green beans at a time as it takes just some minutes.
Remove it exactly after three minutes or boil it and put them into iced water straight away. Drain the ice water through and freezer the beans on the baking sheet for one hour. Now, it is up to you to store it straight away in baking sheets or in the freezer bags.
This is a complete guide about preserving your favorite side; the green beans perfectly. By following these freezing and canning methods completely, you can maintain the taste of fresh green beans. After that, you can enjoy these delicious treats in a salad or with a lemon vinaigrette.
Also Read: How to Cook the Perfect Bavette Steak