This post will chronicle my first try at putting up green beans. Not canning…haven’t made that jump yet! We’ve decided to freeze most of the beans, so I had to learn the process of washing, trimming, blanching, etc. These pics are from last Tuesday, but I did another 3.5lbs today. :)
4lbs, washed and ready to go!
Trimming the ends. This time, I cut each bean into about 3 pieces. Today, I snapped the beans into two. Lainey helped.
Brought the pot to a rolling boil, dumped the beans (in shifts) and blanched for 4 minutes.
Then, cooled them quickly in an ice bath for another 4 minutes.
Shiny, bright green and ready to bag!
I realized, when I cooked a bag last week, that I didn’t put enough in each. There were only 4 of us, and there was barely enough. I added more beans to each bag today. Our garden, canning, processing…it’s all a learning process :) And, we’re enjoying it all!
June 26th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Your finished work looks great! It’s so much work but well worth it!
June 26th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
I always filled quart size bags when I froze vegetables. When I would have vegetables left over (rarely w/ Tony and Randy) I would put them into a freezer container and just keep adding different left over vegetables until I wanted to fix homemade vegetable soup. You would be surprised how fast a spoon or two here and there would add up. Those green beans look like they would love a good ham hock to season them while cooking.
Wish I could snap the beans for you. I have always loved doing them and peas and butterbeans, but hate silking corn.
June 26th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
This brings back memories of years ago when your Grandmom and Aunt Rosalee helped me freeze some corn and butter beans in our kitchen. While they were blanching, it got soooo hot, I had to turn the a/c way down!! But, we really appreciated those delicious veggies in the winter!!
So glad you’re enjoying your new country life…it will really pay-off this winter!! I can just taste those yummy green beans on Thanksgiving Day!!! :)
June 29th, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Wow I’m jealous! I’ve always wanted a garden where I could grow lots of yummy veggies like those beans! Yummy!