Working on My Canning Skills

One of my biggest goals this year is to increase my canning skills and knowledge. I’ve made jam for years and began experimenting with simple recipes this year like adding fresh pineapple and making a strawberry pineapple jam. We also made applesauce this year from apples we picked off the trees on our property. The jams and the applesauce were done in a boiling water canner using regular metal lids, which is a pretty simple and straightforward process.

What I really want to get comfortable with is using a pressure canner and Tattler reusable canning lids. I received a great 23-quart Presto pressure canner for Christmas a year ago and have tried my hand at pressure canning a couple of times in the last year. One of those attempts was fresh corn we picked up at a local farmers market. From husking the corn to cutting it off the cob to filling jars and finally processing, we literally took the corn from the field to our pantry. The corn we got was a bi-color sweet variety and in the canning process it started to brown some. The flavor is still pretty good, though it does taste slightly overcooked, so I’m guessing the browning is due to the high sugar content of the corn itself.

There are several things I’d like to try to can, but at the top of my list has been canning beans. I am absolutely horrible about remembering to soak beans the night before I’d like to cook them and we like to eat beans in a multitude of dishes. I’ve read that beans are one of the easiest things to can and since CT and I both really like black beans, I figured they would be the best ones to try out.

The night before I was planning to can, I prepared about 3 pounds of black beans. I sorted through the beans to remove small stones and broken beans and then covered them in about 3 inches of water. They would need to soak for at least 12-14 hours to I started them soaking about 6pm knowing I would start the canning process shortly after breakfast the next morning.

The next morning I began my foray into canning beans by first collecting all of my supplies – pressure canner, racks (for stacking jars), funnel (for filling jars), jar lifter (for removing from canner), bubble remover, Tattler lids and rubber rings, and metal rings. The beans had soaked up most of the water from the night before and were ready to be drained and rinsed.

After rinsing the beans, they had to be cooked for about an hour prior to processing in the canner. I like adding seasoned beans to different dishes so I added some multi-purpose seasoning to the beans as they cooked. I used about 1 teaspoon per pound of beans. I brought the beans to boiling then lowered the temperature to a simmer for about an hour. \

To make canning a process that truly saves me money, I felt it was important to not only reuse jars, but to also reuse canning lids. The metal ones that come with the jars are meant for single use only and I don’t want to have to buy more lids every time I use up a metal one. I’ve read many good things about Tattler reusable canning lids that I decided to pick some up for use in my canning adventures. So while the beans were cooking, I started to prepare the lids and rings by sterilizing them in scalding water.

Once the beans were ready, I began filling the jars. I first added the beans leaving 1” headspace then added water the beans had cooked in and finally removed air bubbles by running a plastic utensil around the inside of the jar.

After I had all of the jars filled, I cleaned the rims with a wet cloth while checking for nicks and chips. I then placed a rubber gasket and lid on each jar and secured them with a metal ring. When canning with Tattler lids, this is one part of the canning process where the directions are slightly different than with metal lids. When canning with metal lids, the ring should be screwed down to finger tip tightness. When canning with Tattler lids, the ring is screwed down just to the point where resistance is met.

The jars were now ready to be added to the canner! While the beans were cooking I prepared the canner by heating about 3 quarts of water. (Unlike a water bath canner, jars in a pressure canner do not need to be covered with water.) By the time I was ready to add the jars, the water was simmering. I managed to fill a total of 10 jars of beans so I needed a rack for the bottom of the canner along with one to stack a second layer of jars.

With all of the jars in the canner, I locked the lid in place and watched for steam to start escaping from the vent. Once the steam was flowing, I waited for 10 minutes and then placed the weight over the vent. This allowed the pressure to begin building up in the canner. I watched as the pressure gradually rose and adjusted the heat on the stove so that once I reached 12lbs of pressure (we’re at about 2800’ elevation) I would be able to maintain that pressure for an hour and 15 minutes.

After the necessary time had passed, I turned the heat off on the stove and waited. I have read that the canner should be removed from the heat but due to its weight, the glass cooktop, and the room I had to maneuver, I simply let it sit where it was while the pressure went down. It is very important during this part of the process to allow the cooling to happen on its own. You NEVER want to remove the lid to the pressure canner until the pressure has completely gone down. The canner is ready to be opened when the pressure gauge reads zero and the stopper in front has dropped down. With the pressure down, I opened the canner and removed the jars. This is another point when canning with Tattler lids differs slightly from using metal lids. Since the rings were not tightened completely before processing, they are now screwed down to finger tip tightness, which only amounted to about an inch worth of turning.

I allowed the jars to sit for 24 hours before removing the rings. I checked to make sure each jar had sealed by lifting the jars by the lid and I had 100% success! This is only the second time I’ve used the Tattler lids. I am thrilled that all of the jars sealed. Now I’m looking forward to trying the beans and to canning more very soon!