French Style Green Beans

We love Green Beans and my hubby loves French Style so I always do both.  I bought a great little tool from Amazon to make mine with.  It says you can put several beans at once through it, but I found that it worked much faster doing one or two at a time.

Here's what you will need:

A string-less variety of bean.  I used Kentucky Blue Lake
Jars, lids, Bands and a Pressure Canner along with all the other gadgets for canning
Canning Salt (Optional)
And this little gadget:

or one like it.  you can find several different
ones at Amazon.

I started out trying to put four or five beans at
once through the frencher but found that they
clogged it up quickly.

I tried doing just one or two at a time and had a bushel finished fairly fast.

First thing you want to do wash your beans and then take a pair of kitchen shears and snip both ends off.  You can do this in batches as you work.

Make yourself comfortable and it will be done in no time.  My hubby strapped my pot to the stool and they just fell in as I worked.

Once I had all my beans put through the Bean Frencher I knew it wouldn't take long to finish the job.  

I prefer hot packing my beans so I put them in a large stainless steel pot and covered them in fresh  boiling water.  I boiled them for 5 minutes.  

 After boiling for 5 minutes fill your jars with
beans leaving 1 inch head-space.

Add 1 Tsp of canning salt to each quart jar or 1/2 Tsp if doing pints.  Salt is optional.  I used the pint and half size jars as well as quarts and pints.

These jars are processed for the same amount of time as quart jars.

Cover them with the hot liquid you boiled them
in leaving 1 inch head-space.

Remove air bubbles and adjust head-space as needed.

Wipe the rims of your jars with a damp paper towel.

Put on lids and bands and tighten them finger tight.

You can also Raw Pack Green Beans if you prefer.

Raw pack – Fill jars fairly tight with raw beans, leaving 1-inch head-space. Since they are French Style I would not pack them as tight as I would regular cut Green Beans.  Add 1 teaspoon of canning salt per quart to the jar. Add boiling water, leaving 1-inch head-space.

Process both the Hot-Pack or Raw-Pack Method according to charts.

Important Note:  There is no safe method to water bath Green Beans.

Table 1. Recommended process time for  Green Beans in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 - 2,000 ft	2,001 - 4,000 ft	4,001 - 6,000 ft	6,001 - 8,000 ft
Hot and Raw	Pints	20 min	11 lb	12 lb	13 lb	14 lb
	Quarts	25	11	12	13	14

Table 2. Recommended process time for  Green Beans in a weighted-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 - 1,000 ft	Above 1,000 ft
Hot and Raw	Pints	20 min	10 lb	15 lb
	Quarts	25	10	15

Once your time is up turn off your heat and let the pressure drop naturally.  After pressure drops to zero wait 10 minutes and then remove the lid from your canner.

Wait 10 more minutes to allow your jars to adjust to the rooms temperature.

Place jars on a towel to cool for 24 hours.

Test your seal by pressing thumb in center of the jar.  It should not pop up.



After 24 hours, Remove rings and wash jars if needed.  Label and Store in a cool, dark place.

FYI:  Information on Green Beans and Canning Safety