callmaker60
Senior Cook
I have a standard pressure cooker, would it be ok to use to can green beans, or do I need a canning pressure cooker?
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.Try pickled Dilly beans in a waterbath or steam canner. Love them! They last for years and are delicious.
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
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.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.