Canned Pinto Beans

[cowgirl]

If you are like me, I do not always have time to soak and cook pinto beans....these are handy to have on the shelf.

My pressure canner holds 22 pints, so this is how many jars I prepare at a time.

I place 3/4 cup of dry pinto beans in clean sterilized pint jar.
Cover with water.
Place lids loosely on jars, let them sit overnight.

Next day, drain water, add fresh boiling water. Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
(remove beans if you have to...make sure you leave enough headspace)

Add 1/2 tsp salt to each pint, top with clean lids.........process in pressure canner 11lbs for 75 minutes.


Also, you can add garlic, red pepper flakes, cayenne, or onion powder to the pints.....use your favorites.

 

[deejaydebi]

Cowgirl -

I have been getting alot of dried beans lately that just seem to be petrified or something. These were not pintos they were great Northern but I was wondering ... Got 4 bags in a row now that just would not soften up. I had one bag soaking and changed the water for several days and they wouldn't reconstitute. Ever have that happen? I'm thinking the must have been in the store a - L - O - N - G - time!

 

[cowgirl]

Debi, I bet you are right, they were probably old.
I go to the south east corner of Colorado every fall and pick up fresh 25lb bags of pintos. There sure is a difference between them and store bought!

 

[gypsyseagod]

i've had pintos do that too- boiled & simmered them suckers for 14 hrs- still like rock.

 

[goat]

I only buy Casserole brand. Not much picking, just wash, soak, and cook.

 

[deejaydebi]

I complainted to the store and there's no dates on the packages so no way of telling ...

Guess not alot of people make beans anymore from dried.

 

[smokin for life]

To me that's the only way of making beans, I never thought about putting them in a pressure cooker. I just got one to start canning, seems pretty easy (I hope)

 

[vlap]

I love using dried beans but it can be hard to find any variety. I have never tried fresh ones. Hopefully I will get to sometime.

 

[dacdots]

Oh my yes,they are the best home canned.Now I always like to add chunks of ham to mine.Seems to me the pressure cooking really drives the taste into them good.Its so good to open a jar or two and bake some corn bread when the snow is flying outside.Lots of years we also can vegetable soup and chili for the same purpose.Taste so much better than snowballs.

 

[richoso1]

Debi is right, no date on any plastic bags, same with buying them loose by the pound. I still soak them overnight, picking out the floaters and rocks as I rinse. I might try the pressure cooker, I've only used it for tamales, so I'll try something new. Thanks for the tip.

 

[bob marsh]

Pinto beans are the best - Dottie usually cooks a large batch and cans them.

We buy ours in bulk at our local farmer's market and haven't run into any toughies - She rinses and soaks, then slow cooks them in a large pot with a couple of smoked hamhocks or sometimes a bone left over from a Honey Baked Ham. She tends to let them get just slightly tender and then cut the meat from the hocks and procedd to can the beans.

Man! chop some Vidalia onion and add them wehen it's time to eat and a pan of Dottie's Cracklin Cornbread - That's a meal by itself!

 

[cowgirl]

You're making me hungry Bob!

 

[smokin for life]

Patty, if I was to try the pressure cooker method you were talking about before would the beans be all mushy like the supermarket type or would they be still as tastey as home made?

 

[cowgirl]

Smokin, they turn out tender for me...not mushy.
It really helps if you do not overcrowd the jars too...make sure there is at least a half inch to an inch of headspace.
They are handy to have around.

I like to use them in a lot of my mexican dishes.

 

[bkennedy]

Well Bob pinto beans are a cowboy tradition..We use a couple of ham hocks or a coouple of pieces salt pork bacon, and a pickled jalapeno..with the seasoning...salt , pepper, and a touch of cumin..We boil hard until done because we like the beans to get soft and break up some to make the broth soupy to go with our cornbread and raw onions..Here is something that will make you slap yo mama..Plant you some pinto beans out back (Just buy a pound of dry beans and plant them...they all come up!) Pick them when they are green and the beans are small...Pick them, snap and string them...With cut bacon..The best green bean you have ever tasted! The country people here have always eaten them all and never sell them..Hill Country around Austin Texas. Make Kentucky wonders seem like imatation green beans after eating the green Pintos!

 

[white cloud]

I think I will give the green pintos a try. I have in the past let my Kentucky wonders go after we had enough in the freezer till leathery. then just let em dry and bust em open in the winter and put in jars. They were just ok. I just made some dried pintos last weekend and they cooked up nice and tender, but today at lunch I warmed them up and they had almost a soft peanut like texture kind of hard. So just snap them, string them and cooked like regular green beans eh ? I always add just allittle bacon fat to mine. Yummo, oh crap sound like Rachel Sting Ray.

 

[bob marsh]

Hi Old Bill,

Never heard of this but I'm going to try it this year in the garden. We do a lot of green beans for canning every year and this sound like a unique and tasty alternative! I wonder how they'd be in a green bean salad?

B

 

[bkennedy]

The one thing to be careful about..is don't let them fill to the maximum and start to dry at all or they will be too tough. Pick them and string them while they are still tender...When they are about 3/4 size pick a few and string them and check them out..I guess its the same with all green beans..to late..too tough!
I always figured some one would make their million raising them and selling them..like the Kentucky Wonders...lol

 

[bkennedy]

The pinto bean has a lot more flavor...so I guess they would be good in casseroles or in place of the regular green beans with some fat bacon or salt pork..For years my brother in law would not tell me why his canned green beans tasted so much better than mine...but after a few years and a few beers he finally broke down laughing and told me his were pinto's... I was trying everything to raise mine to taste better..lol

 

[bkennedy]

Your so right.!! Cow Girl..Their is a chain of little grocery stores around Austin that gets their dry pintos in 8# sacks from Dove Creek Colorado...That is the bean of choice for our big extended family in the hill country..