Putting up Green Beans for Winter
By Laura on Aug 14, 2008 in Eat More Fruits and Veggies, Frugal Fridays
After posting about how I put up corn for winter, many of you asked about green beans. I just happen to be in the middle of crazy green bean season. So…here you go!!
After picking our beans, I usually get my boys on “bean snapping duty” right away. (They never complain about this job. I think it’s because they are given permission to “break things”….what do you think?) They snap off the ends and put the green beans into a colander. As soon as the colander is full I wash the beans to try to get as much “garden” (my nice way of saying bugs and dirt) off.
It is my understanding that in order to maintain as much green bean nutrition as possible, it is best to only snap the ends off the bean…not to snap the bean into pieces. It makes sense that if you snap the green bean into three pieces, when you cook the bean, more of the nutrients will be washed away in the water. But if it’s a whole bean…more of the nutrients stay inside the bean. (And you can have “My green bean is longer than your green bean” competitions while you eat dinner.)
After washing the green beans, I then put them into a pot of boiling water. This blanching process stops their aging process. (No, you can not blanche people in order to stop their aging process.)
After about two minutes in the boiling water, the green beans are a brighter green…and they go back into the colander where they are given a cold, cold shower. This process stops the cooking process that the blanching part started.
After the green beans are cooled from the cold water shower, I then spread them out onto a dry towel. I use another towel to pat over the top of them to help dry them off more. If your beans are too wet when you put them into a freezer bag, you’ll have ice form around your beans. (You don’t want ice to form around your beans.)
And then, I put my beans into a gallon freezer bag and label it. And into the freezer it goes. I know some people prefer to can their green beans. I don’t can them for two reasons:
1. Freezing them maintains more of the green bean’s nutrition.
2. I’m incredibly afraid of my pressure cooker. (When I got my mom’s pressure cooker, it didn’t have a manual with it. I have no idea how to use it properly.) I do not need to cause an explosion in my kitchen.
So there you go! As I begin to can and freeze my tomatoes and fruit for the winter, I’ll be sure to show you those processes too! (Yeah, because those don’t require a pressure cooker, just a hot water bath…and I’m not so afraid of those.)
More Frugal Fridays here.
I remember spending hours and hours as a kid snapping beans. I will admit I hated that job. Maybe girls don’t like to break things as much as boys.
But we also snapped them into pieces. My mom canned a ton of beans each year. But I am glad she did and glad I helped it gave us good food for the rest of the year.
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Lynn | Aug 14, 2008 | Reply
Yummy!! I miss doing this with my mom! I wish my picky eaters that I live with now would eat fresh beans.
Thanks for sharing!
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Sonshine | Aug 14, 2008 | Reply
I am so glad you are sharing this! I am going to start to do this next year for my family.
I have also started to research High Fructose Corn Syrup and other “yucky” ingredients, thanks for all the inspiration on living healthier!
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Lindsey | Aug 14, 2008 | Reply
Thanks so much for showing this. I always wondered how to go about doing this, now I know. I’m buying up some beans this week so I can freeze them. Thanks again!
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Faith | Aug 14, 2008 | Reply
That’s how I freeze my green beans, too!
I just did this a few weeks ago, and I’m hoping for more beans later on.
By the way, you can usually get pressure canners inspected at a local Extension Service Office, and they can often assist you in ordering any necessary replacement parts. That’s what mom my did with her old pressure canner.
Blessings,
Michele
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Michele @ Frugal Granola | Aug 14, 2008 | Reply
This is great!
Do you grow all of these vegetables, or are you just finding great deals at the supermarket?
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Teresa | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
My garden is about a month behind schedule due to the SNOW and hard freezes we had in April, a whole month beyond the “average” last frost. SO… have no beans yet!
I had to laugh though, because your reasons for not canning are EXACTLY the same reasons I don’t can.
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SusanSophia | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
This is exactly how I do it as well. I have not got a pressure cooker or canner yet, but I am afraid of them as well.
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Gretchen | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the demonstration!! I’m definitely gonna try putting up some beans!! I can hardly wait for the tomatoes!
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Marie | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
We do both… freeze and can. Freeze because I don’t like mushy beans in stew and soups in the winter…
can because we would run out of Freezer space very quickly saving the garden for 6 people…
So far we have canned 58 quarts of green beans, and frozen about 8 quarts for stews and such! Also given away about 10 quarts worth and eaten probably 10 quarts worth for snacks and dinners.
I do agree that steaming them and freezing them would be a much better nutritional option (that is what I do, I steam my ones I will freeze for 4 min.)
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Denai | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
If I had a bigger garden, and a chest-freezer, I would SO do this. Mmmm. My mom and I used to do these when I was a kid, except we did can ours. We used a water-bath thingy (I don’t know what it is – a machine? a pot?!) as opposed to a pressure cooker.
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Joelle | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
my green beans died after 4 weeks of rain. I am hoping to try again next year. I was thinking of getting a pressure canner but I am getting scared. I may just do this instead.
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Niki | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
Just wanted to let you know that I tried your recipe for herb-sprinkled chicken (from your chook cookbook) and it was a hit with the whole family – all 6 children plus my husband. Actually my husband liked it so much he said he’d be happy if I always did chicken that way from now on!
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Catherine | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply
I hadn’t ever thought about blanching the babies. What a great idea! haha
Don’t be afraid of the pressure canner. They are really easy to use and perfectly safe. Time consuming, but safe. You need to let the pressure dissipate before opening the cover, which takes about an hour.
BE NOT AFRAID!!! Once you get the hang of it, you can put up practically anything, including meats. How awesome is that?
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Kerry | Aug 16, 2008 | Reply
ummm…how do U get ‘em to do this without complaining?
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Donna | Aug 17, 2008 | Reply
LOL I have my grandmothers canner and I too am afraid of the pressure canning and will only can things that can be in a water bath. Here I thought I was the only one! I don’t even like green beans, but yours look great!
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Jennifer | Aug 17, 2008 | Reply