Canning Dried Beans
First, preparing a can of beans is much quicker than preparing dried beans. With canned beans, you can come home from work, open a glass canning jar, dump them in a pan, warm them up, and you're ready to eat. No muss, no fuss! Second, dried beans do have a shelf life. If dried beans have been stored too long (beyond 6 or 8 months), they will stay hard after cooking, and the flavor will deteriorate. I have canned pinto, black turtle, navy, kidney and butter beans in this manner, and they always have turned out tasty. Any variety of bean that you like to eat can be prepared in the same way as described below.  Supplies Needed for Canning Dried Beans-Pressure Canner-5 pounds of dried beans - your choice of variety -Canning Salt -2 Gallon Stock pot (two of them if you can get them) -Long handled spoon -Small sauce pan -20 to 22 pint canning jars (or 10-12 Quarts) -Canning lids and rings -Jar Lifter -Magnetic lid wand -Canning funnel -Measuring spoons -Ladle or glass measuring pitcher -A couple of old towels or scrap rags
Preparing for Canning -Wash the beans, and remove dirt, twigs, rocks, and bad beans.  -Place the beans in two 2 gallon stock pots and cover the beans with two to three times the volume of water as beans.  -Bring the beans to a boil and simmer for one hour.  -Stir ocassionally and add water if needed. -Wash jars, lid and rings.
Filling and Closing the Jars-Put 2" water in small sauce pan and bring to boil.-Remove from heat, and place lids in water. -Fill jars with drained beans to about 1-1/4 inches from the top.  -Add 1/2 teaspoon canning salt per pint (1 teaspoon per quart).  -Top off each jar with juice leaving 1/4 inch head space.  -Wipe rims of jars with wet dish cloth or paper towel. -Assemble lids and rings and apply to jars. -Tighten lids to hand tight.
Canning Dried BeansUnless you have an industrial sized canner, this will take two rounds to can all of your beans.-Put 3" water in canner and bring to boil. -Place jars in canner and lock down the lid. -Vent the canner for 7 to 10 minutes. -Process at 10 PSI for 45 minutes for pints. (Quarts for 55 min.)  -When done, allow pressure to drop off naturally. -Remove jars and place them on counter to cool. Jars may take up to an hour to seal, but wait until they have cooled to room temperature to be sure. Any jars that do not seal will have to be either eaten right away (within 24 hours) or refrigerated and eaten with in aweek or two. Jars that don't seal are fairly uncommon if you follow instructions, but it does happen occasionally. When the odd one doesn't seal, just think of it as a quality check of your work!
Cost of Canning Dried BeansI buy 5 pound bags of dried beans for around $7.00 and a box of 12 canning lids costs about $1.50. Pints require two boxes of lids.Total cost for pints is about $10.00. Quarts about $8.50  If you can 22 pints (which is the normal amount), your cost will be about 45 cents per jar, or about 77 cents each for 11 quarts. For comparison, 12 ounce cans of bean soup from the store can cost around $1.50 each. A little more than 3 times as much as doing it yourself! You can probably buy dried beans cheaper if you find them in bulk. If you grow them yourself, you only have the cost of seeds to consider.
Canning dried beans can be an inexpensive way to preserve them for longer storage. It also provides quick, easy to prepareside dishes or main courses (with home made corn bread of course!). You can add flavorings and seasonings to the beans when you warm them up to eat. My favorite thing to add is ham flavored boullion seasoning. Use your imagination and experiment a bit to meet your own tastes.
Good Luck and enjoy!
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