ISO help canning kidney beans. Quick soak or overnight? and skins?

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Rockergirl

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I plan on canning kidney beans this weekend. Have you all found any difference in the quick soak vs the overnight soak, when canning? Also, any trick with preventing the skins from floating around after you can them? I had that happen with canning my pinto beans earlier this year. Which is fine, but I prefer for my skins to stick to the beans....
 
I've done it both ways, soak overnight and the bring to a boil let them sit method. They've turned out the same.


No ideas about the skins except, when they are first soaked or the other method. If when I'm rinsing them and getting fresh water, skins have floated to the top, I take them out.



For pinto beans and occasionally other beans, the quart size gives me more lid failures than the pint size. I don't know why, I just know that happens to me. I drain the fails, then dehydrate them for making back packing soups. Heat and eat.
 
I plan on canning kidney beans this weekend. Have you all found any difference in the quick soak vs the overnight soak, when canning? Also, any trick with preventing the skins from floating around after you can them? I had that happen with canning my pinto beans earlier this year. Which is fine, but I prefer for my skins to stick to the beans....

Raw kidney beans are poisonous. You have to make sure they are cooked completely before canning, Then drain the cooking water and replace with boiling water. Adding salt to the soaking, and cooking water firms the skins so they remain intact on the beans. Also, season the kidney beans with salt to taste before canning.



Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
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Gosh, now I'm a little scared to can kidney beans. I was following the USDA method for canning dried beans (which doesn't specify which kind) - which was to quick boil (2 mins and let sit for an hour) and then boil them for 30 minutes before canning. Is that not right? I've seen a lot of people dry can their kidney beans online, which I know isn't safe....but is the standard method of boiling for 30 minutes (after the quick boil) good for canning kidney beans?
 
The instructions for canning beans are all dried beans-kidney beans, pinto, white, black, red, large, small.


Kidney beans are not poisonous if cooked and since no one eats them raw and dry, they are not poisonous.

If you don't cook them enough, boiling them for 20-30 minutes...they aren't fully cooked.

Do raw beans contain lectins and will raw dry beans make you sick, sure, but then no one eats them uncooked.



Cooking the beans--goes for canning, and for cooking from dry, for eating. They freeze well and they also dehydrate well.



Rocketgirl, yes, what you wrote is correct.
Put them in water, bring to a boil, then let them sit. (or soak overnight)
THEN, bring them to a boil for 30 minutes.

NOTE: they are not completely soft and cooked at this point, so that you can CAN them. Canning them puts them through temperatures even above boiling for a long time 75-90 minutes. THEN they are soft and cooked.


If you are just cooking from dry (but not canning), you can soak overnight, or do the quick method and let them sit. THEN boil in fresh water for 30 minutes, and simmer until soft. That may take another 30 minutes or another hour. The drier and older the beans, the longer it takes.
 
Thanks you two! This was very helpful! I'm almost done with my 30 minute boil and will be canning soon :)
 
One more question on the beans - I have WAY too many. USDA said 5 lbs would make apx one full canner (7 pints). That is not true....(maybe they meant 5 lbs of soaked beans...)I can make probably 2 more canners full after the initial one that is going right now. Can I put the extra beans in the fridge and can them tonight and tomorrow. That will make them cold. I worry about reheating them before canning them because they already seem to be falling apart some. Some are good, some are mushy (mostly good). Also, I assume if I put them in the fridge until I can them tomorrow, that I would keep them in their water?
 
If you put them in the fridge for the next day to can. They need to be brought back up to a boil then put in jars. Hot full jars into hot water in the canner.
I wouldn't keep them in water. Water will be absorbed if you leave them in water. Not entirely but the beans will continue to get softer.
I don't think you can actually do anything about the beans that are already mostly done and falling apart. Sorry.


About the directions and bean amounts. It varies so greatly, the numbers they give are not very close to actual amounts. Different beans, freshly dried beans, drier older beans.
 
Thanks for checking!

So this has been such the adventure....I did can the 2nd batch - I drained what was left over and put in fridge, then filled with water and boiled for 30 minutes and did the process all over again on Sunday, and everything seemed to go well. I did still have extra but I just finished cooking those to eat, I didn't need a 3rd batch.... I used Tattler lids on all of those and only lost 1 - so I was proud of myself!

However, I just went to the fridge tonight to freeze the couple of cans that didn't seal from the 1st batch on Saturday - I have no idea what happened there, I used regular lids and don't seem to have problems with those, but I've just been jinxed the past couple of weekends! Anyway, I went to grab those cans and when I pulled them out of the fridge - they were fully sealed! So now I don't know what to do? I normally wait at least 12 hours to see if cans sealed but with these - they were fully cooled after about 4-5 hours and I just determined that those 2 cans weren't going to seal so I decided to put them in the fridge before I went to bed (my cans always "pop" very quickly after I pull them out, I've never seen one seals 6+ hours later). So this brings me to another question....does that mean my cans are considered properly sealed and can save for long term without freezing? I hadn't thought twice about those after I stuck them in the fridge Saturday night...so I don't know when they sealed, I just know they are now.
 
I'm so glad most of everything sealed!

Beans can be hit and miss with sealing, and that's cool your tattlers mostly sealed!

So this brings me to another question....does that mean my cans are considered properly sealed and can save for long term without freezing? I hadn't thought twice about those after I stuck them in the fridge Saturday night...so I don't know when they sealed, I just know they are now.


These are not considered properly sealed (by canning standards) and to be stored at room temperature. Sorry. To be considered sealed, they must come out of the pressure canner, cooled on a towel, left to get to room temperature. If you remove the rings (which I always do), and lifted the jar by the lid, if it was sealed, it would not come off. That's a lot of vacuum, to hold that lid in place.


If you want to test it, mark the jars, put them in the pantry (or where ever you store them), and check back in a month. Chances are they will develop mold on the top and the lid will be loose. This even happens with properly sealed jars at times. This is why it is important not to have those rings on the jars creating a false seal on the lids.



What happened, is that you put them in a cold fridge, the temperature drop with the 'now' sealed lids, (it pulled a small vacuum with the temperature difference-the air contracted) gives the impression they are sealed-possibly good enough for keeping in the fridge a short time (3 days?)
Since the top was opened or unsealed, air (bacteria) could have entered when you checked the lids and that bacteria can multiply or produce toxins.


Freeze the beans from the unsealed jars. I do this often. Or dehydrate them for backpacking soups/stews. Congratulations on mostly having successful sessions with beans!



When you're doing a large amount, try to do the first boil method, then only cook the beans for the second boil that are going into jars, and refrigerate the first boiled beans if you are holding them to the next day.



Does that all make sense?



The last two days, I canned a soup starter (onions, celery, carrots) and then sweet and savory diced pickles for salads (used tattlers for them).
My husband mr bliss is planning on picking beans tomorrow morning, for our third batch of canning beans this year so far. Lots of work!
 
I decided to go ahead and freeze them. I stress so much about getting us sick and after my scare with the salsa, I'm not doing anything that is questionable, ha! What you explained made perfect sense and now answers a question I had when I made my dad quick pickled jalapenos last month....that sealed in the fridge too. I didn't even can those, just used a hot vinegar mixture. Never intended those for the long haul.

I def learned my lesson with too many beans. 5 lbs of kidney beans makes way more than one canner load!!!! Noted for sure! Next time will save the 2nd boil for the 2nd shift.

That's such a good idea about soup starter! I have made chicken soup twice - basically the soup starter plus chicken....my husband likes to grab for quick meals to poor over rice. I just don't like it because the texture of the chicken just isn't for me. But making that base is a great idea! Than I can add my own fresh chicken when ready!

Thank you for all your help with this, certainly helpful! You all sound busy! I haven't ventured to canning any sort of pickles yet, although I grew tons of cucumbers this summer! I quick pickled them but put my focus on canning tomatoes this summer. Baby steps :) I did find a quick, delicious, easy recipe for all my cucumbers though - cucumber juice. So refreshing and froze a bunch too!
 
Rockergirl, for quick meals.
If your family eats meat, then canning chicken (thighs are usually not hard to debone and skin and inexpensive) hamburger, and pork (tenderloins whole usually go on sale).


To eat over rice or veggie rice, and or w/a pint of meat, canning a pineapple salsa (when they go on sale), or a peach salsa (on sale), are really quick to dump and heat and eat.

Since you are already pressure canning, there are many soup recipes that are tested through NCHFP and University Extensions. Vegetable, Taco soup, Habitant soup, and others, for quick meals too.
 
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