A couple of nights ago, I used my last jar of home canned pinto beans to make chili. It is mid-May and still frost at night and a chill in the air, so we have lots of days that good soup days. Anyway, we have 100 pounds of pintos and 25 pounds left of Anasazi, dry. Obviously, we buy in bulk. The total cost of 125 pounds of beans was $15, or 12 cents per pound. (I need to explain that DH is from Dove Creek, Colorado, and we buy beans from friends who grow them). I used 10 pounds of each so $2.40 for all the beans. I used very lean organic hamburger for a total of $5 for the meat. The diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce was a total of $6 for the chili and baked beans. Spices added another dollar, probably, and I used home-grown onions. Probably $0.25 worth of molasses, mustard, and brown sugar. So for 28 quarts (each will serve 4) and 7 pints (each will serve 2) it cost about $14.50 or $0.12 per serving. Yes, the processing used electricity, but we pay for only about 1/2 of what we use because we have a bank of solar panels. In these times of financial instability, and for a retired couple living on a fixed income, we can eat well for very little money. I will add home made tortillas with the chili for a complete meal.
I will not go into detailed instructions on how to can. Other sites have done this so well that I don’t feel I need to repeat. Please see Pick Your Own for everything you want to know about canning and freezing food. Ball Canning also has detailed information and I would suggest, if you’re wanting can correctly, invest in a Ball Canning Book. It is relatively inexpensive and has instructions on how to can almost everything, and how to freeze produce. Worth every penny. Mine is dog-eared and stained, but I use it all the time.
I have always hated to can beans because of the soaking and pre-cooking. I just knew there had to be an easier way–I mean those big canning companies probably don’t go through the soaking and pre-cooking! I went in search of. And guess what? There a lot of bloggers out there giving instruction on home canning dry beans without ever soaking them! Amazing!
I knew I wanted at least one canner (my pressure canner holds only 7 pints or 7 quarts) full of chili with meat. And since I was dragging out the canner, I just as well do some others, too. So, I decided on 7 quarts of baked beans without mean; 7 quarts of plain Anasazi beans; 7 quarts vegetarian chili; and pints of whatever beans were cleaned and washed and not used in the other jars.
Carol at Yellow Rock Country Girl had a great recipe for layered chili using dry beans. I hopped right on that. Her recipe was for pints, so I just doubled everything for quarts. I did add about 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic to each jar and used less red chili powder since I use really hot stuff from New Mexico. We haven’t tasted any of it yet, but the jars sure look like chili. Please check out her blog for detailed instructions. One caveat, this must be pressure processed because of the meat and the low acid foods. DO NOT use a water bath canner. I will follow this same recipe for the vegetarian chili, but use more beans since there will be no meat.
Then I was in search of a baked bean canning recipe that used dry beans directly into the canning jar. I’m old and need to find the easiest way to do things. And evidently you can teach an old dog new tricks. Anyway, I found Canning Granny who had a marvelously easy recipe for canned pork and beans. I chose not to use any meat and I used pinto beans instead of navy beans–I have pintos, but not navy. As you can see, the jars look pretty much like a can of baked or barbeque beans.
My plain Anasazi beans are still processing. When they are done, I will add an update. For each quart, I used 1 1/2 cups dry, sorted and rinsed (to remove any rocks and debris and wash the dirt off) Anasazi beans and 1 teaspoon salt to each jar. Then I filled the jars to within 1 inch head space with boiling water. Be sure to use a bamboo or plastic chopstick or knife to release the air bubbles. Add more water if necessary to the 1 inch line–just at the bottom of the rings.
For those of you unfamiliar with this bean, it is closely related to the pinto, but cooks faster and is softer. The seeds were first discovered in cliff dwelling ruins and then cultivated. These are the beans our early Native Americans of the Southwest ate. Sometimes you can find them in your local supermarket, but the best source is Adobe Milling in Dove Creek, Colorado. They also have other beans that are not commonly found, plus amazing spices, and cookbooks. Pintos and Anasazi are featured in the town’s celebrations and heritage. If you are ever in the Four Corners area, a visit to their store is worthwhile.
For the pints of left-over beans, not used in the other jars, I used 3/4 cup beans, and it turned out to be mixed pintos and Anasazi, with 1 tablespoon Adobe Milling Bacon Flavored Bean Spice. Again, you can buy that at Adobe Milling.
May 17 2015
Canning beans
A couple of nights ago, I used my last jar of home canned pinto beans to make chili. It is mid-May and still frost at night and a chill in the air, so we have lots of days that good soup days. Anyway, we have 100 pounds of pintos and 25 pounds left of Anasazi, dry. Obviously, we buy in bulk. The total cost of 125 pounds of beans was $15, or 12 cents per pound. (I need to explain that DH is from Dove Creek, Colorado, and we buy beans from friends who grow them). I used 10 pounds of each so $2.40 for all the beans. I used very lean organic hamburger for a total of $5 for the meat. The diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce was a total of $6 for the chili and baked beans. Spices added another dollar, probably, and I used home-grown onions. Probably $0.25 worth of molasses, mustard, and brown sugar. So for 28 quarts (each will serve 4) and 7 pints (each will serve 2) it cost about $14.50 or $0.12 per serving. Yes, the processing used electricity, but we pay for only about 1/2 of what we use because we have a bank of solar panels. In these times of financial instability, and for a retired couple living on a fixed income, we can eat well for very little money. I will add home made tortillas with the chili for a complete meal.
I will not go into detailed instructions on how to can. Other sites have done this so well that I don’t feel I need to repeat. Please see Pick Your Own for everything you want to know about canning and freezing food. Ball Canning also has detailed information and I would suggest, if you’re wanting can correctly, invest in a Ball Canning Book. It is relatively inexpensive and has instructions on how to can almost everything, and how to freeze produce. Worth every penny. Mine is dog-eared and stained, but I use it all the time.
I have always hated to can beans because of the soaking and pre-cooking. I just knew there had to be an easier way–I mean those big canning companies probably don’t go through the soaking and pre-cooking! I went in search of. And guess what? There a lot of bloggers out there giving instruction on home canning dry beans without ever soaking them! Amazing!
I knew I wanted at least one canner (my pressure canner holds only 7 pints or 7 quarts) full of chili with meat. And since I was dragging out the canner, I just as well do some others, too. So, I decided on 7 quarts of baked beans without mean; 7 quarts of plain Anasazi beans; 7 quarts vegetarian chili; and pints of whatever beans were cleaned and washed and not used in the other jars.
Carol at Yellow Rock Country Girl had a great recipe for layered chili using dry beans. I hopped right on that. Her recipe was for pints, so I just doubled everything for quarts. I did add about 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic to each jar and used less red chili powder since I use really hot stuff from New Mexico. We haven’t tasted any of it yet, but the jars sure look like chili. Please check out her blog for detailed instructions. One caveat, this must be pressure processed because of the meat and the low acid foods. DO NOT use a water bath canner. I will follow this same recipe for the vegetarian chili, but use more beans since there will be no meat.
Then I was in search of a baked bean canning recipe that used dry beans directly into the canning jar. I’m old and need to find the easiest way to do things. And evidently you can teach an old dog new tricks. Anyway, I found Canning Granny who had a marvelously easy recipe for canned pork and beans. I chose not to use any meat and I used pinto beans instead of navy beans–I have pintos, but not navy. As you can see, the jars look pretty much like a can of baked or barbeque beans.
My plain Anasazi beans are still processing. When they are done, I will add an update. For each quart, I used 1 1/2 cups dry, sorted and rinsed (to remove any rocks and debris and wash the dirt off) Anasazi beans and 1 teaspoon salt to each jar. Then I filled the jars to within 1 inch head space with boiling water. Be sure to use a bamboo or plastic chopstick or knife to release the air bubbles. Add more water if necessary to the 1 inch line–just at the bottom of the rings.
For those of you unfamiliar with this bean, it is closely related to the pinto, but cooks faster and is softer. The seeds were first discovered in cliff dwelling ruins and then cultivated. These are the beans our early Native Americans of the Southwest ate. Sometimes you can find them in your local supermarket, but the best source is Adobe Milling in Dove Creek, Colorado. They also have other beans that are not commonly found, plus amazing spices, and cookbooks. Pintos and Anasazi are featured in the town’s celebrations and heritage. If you are ever in the Four Corners area, a visit to their store is worthwhile.
For the pints of left-over beans, not used in the other jars, I used 3/4 cup beans, and it turned out to be mixed pintos and Anasazi, with 1 tablespoon Adobe Milling Bacon Flavored Bean Spice. Again, you can buy that at Adobe Milling.
By monnalu • Recipes, Uncategorized • Tags: canning, chili beans, dry beans