Canning green beans with a pressure cooker

[callmaker60]

I have a standard pressure cooker, would it be ok to use to can green beans, or do I need a canning pressure cooker?

 

[Dawgluver]

They're two different animals. Pressure cookers aren't used for canning.

 

[callmaker60]

Thanks, that answers that.

 

[taxlady]

My first thought was, "Why not, if you can get the pressure to the required level?" But, I figured I would ask Mr. Google and I found an excellent explanation here:

National Center for Home Food Preservation | NCHFP Publications

 

[Dawgluver]

Try pickled Dilly beans in a waterbath or steam canner. Love them! They last for years and are delicious.

 

[taxlady]

Try pickled Dilly beans in a waterbath or steam canner. Love them! They last for years and are delicious.

Yup, once they have been made acidic enough, they don't need the pressure canning. Hot water bath canning is good enough. A tested recipe would be best for safety. I wouldn't know how much acid was needed.

 

[GotGarlic]

taxy, the site you linked to earlier has a lot of tested recipes: http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/dilled_beans.html

 

[Dawgluver]

I use Ball's Blue Book recipe. My grandma made pickled green beans that would set your teeth on edge. I still aspire to that.

GG, that recipe is very similar to BBB.

 

[dcSaute]

My first thought was, "Why not, if you can get the pressure to the required level?" But, I figured I would ask Mr. Google and I found an excellent explanation here:

National Center for Home Food Preservation | NCHFP Publications

and what that site actually says is:

the methods/times/recipes/etc presented on that (and similar) sites are not intended for pressure cookers which are generally smaller and will have different timing requirements.

so, can a pressure cooker be used to can? yes. but . . . .

unless one is doing a very small quantity - like one or two jars - a Mark I Mod 0 pressure cooker is impractical.

 

[taxlady]

and what that site actually says is:

the methods/times/recipes/etc presented on that (and similar) sites are not intended for pressure cookers which are generally smaller and will have different timing requirements.

so, can a pressure cooker be used to can? yes. but . . . .

unless one is doing a very small quantity - like one or two jars - a Mark I Mod 0 pressure cooker is impractical.

The problem doesn't seem so much to be if it could theoretically be done safely as the fact that there aren't any tested canning times for the smaller pressure cookers.

 

[dcSaute]

yup.

that's what the reference said.

"They're two different animals" is completely incorrect. they both use pressure to raise the internal temperature beyond the 212'F atmospheric water boiling point.

they are not different animals, they are different size animals.

 

[bethzaring]

I consider them different animals because with one you have a pressure gauge and the other one you don't. Say to can green beans, you can can them at 10 pounds pressure for 50 minutes or at 15 pounds pressure for 40 minutes. I AM MAKING UP THESE NUMBERS. With a pressure cooker you have no idea as to the amount of pressure inside the cooker and therefore no idea how long to can any food stuffs.


Today I pressure cooked some dried, soaked pinto beans for one hour and 40 minutes. I have no idea the pressure they were cooking at. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that the beans were done to DH's liking.

 

[dcSaute]

the old style with a weighted jiggle valve came with either one fixed weight or dual weights - and if one read the manual one knew what pressure which weight operated at.

the newer ones have a spring loaded pressure valve and perhaps a gauge.

now and then one hears about the spring types getting clogged up and the pressure cooker blowing its safety plug - which doesn't seem to happen with the old style weighted ones.

 

[sparrowgrass]

Oh, I blew the safety plug on my pressure canner, the one with the weighted jiggler. They need to be checked and replaced from time to time.