Canned Plain Dried Beans (Pinto, Black, Kidney, or Navy)

Ingredients

Instructions

1. 1Understand before you begin that cooked dried beans are treated as a low-acid food for canning purposes and must be processed in a pressure canner; a boiling-water bath is not a safe method for canning beans.
2. 2Wash 7 quart jars in hot soapy water or a dishwasher and keep them hot; wash new lids and prepare them exactly as the manufacturer instructs.
3. 3Sort through the dried beans and discard any shriveled beans or debris, then rinse them and soak them in plenty of water overnight (this soaking time is not counted in the active prep time above), or use a quick soak by boiling the beans for 2 minutes and letting them sit off heat, covered, for 1 hour.
4. 4Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh water in a large pot, bring to a boil, and boil for about 30 minutes; the beans should be just starting to become tender but not fully cooked, since they will continue cooking during pressure processing.
5. 5Using a slotted spoon, pack the hot beans loosely into the hot jars, without pressing them down, filling to about the level where liquid can still move freely around them.
6. 6Leave 1 inch of headspace at the top of each jar.
7. 7Ladle fresh boiling water (or the bean cooking liquid) over the beans until covered, maintaining 1 inch of headspace, and add salt only if desired for flavor.
8. 8Run a bubble tool through the jar to release any trapped air among the beans, then recheck and adjust headspace to 1 inch if needed.
9. 9Wipe the jar rims clean of any starchy residue, center a lid on each jar, and screw the band down fingertip tight.
10. 10Load the jars into the pressure canner, add water as directed by the manufacturer, lock the lid, and vent steam steadily for 10 minutes before pressurizing.
11. 11Process pint jars for 75 minutes and quart jars for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a weighted-gauge canner up to 1,000 feet (15 pounds above 1,000 feet), or 11 pounds in a dial-gauge canner up to 2,000 feet (12 pounds from 2,001 to 4,000 feet, 13 pounds from 4,001 to 6,000 feet, 14 pounds from 6,001 to 8,000 feet).
12. 12Turn off the heat once processing finishes and let the canner depressurize naturally on its own; never quick-release when canning beans.
13. 13Wait until the gauge reads zero, then wait 2 more minutes, slowly vent any remaining pressure, wait 10 more minutes, then unlock and open the canner.
14. 14Move the jars to a towel-lined surface and let them cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.
15. 15Check that each lid has sealed, wipe the jars clean, label with contents and date, and store in a cool, dark place for up to about 1 year.
16. 16Before eating, boil the beans hard for 10 minutes to destroy any possible botulinum toxin, and discard without tasting any jar with an off smell, spurting liquid, or a lid that never sealed or is bulging.