# Frenching green beans



## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

I got a pressure canner for Christmas and with all the seed catalogs floating around I'm already thinking about the day I can start to use the canner. All the books I have (Jackie Clay and Ball Blue Book) have the instructions for whole or cut beans, but I like mine frenched. Is the processing time going to be the same for them as the whole & cut ones?


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## PixieLou (May 1, 2010)

yes it is


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## arrocks (Oct 26, 2011)

Yes same time. Issue is that frenched beans tend to get very mushy when pressure canned. The thin slices just don't hold up to the pressure nearly as well as the whole or cut pieces do. You also have to be careful not to over-pack the jars with them since they compact more. Make sure you leave room for plenty of liquid in the jars to avoid density problems.

Recommend you try just a couple of jars first to see if they are acceptable to you.


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

Thanks Pixie and Arrocks. Arrocks that is why I thought maybe the time would be different. The mushy factor. Although the ones you buy in the grocery store are usually mushy too so it might not be that big of a surprise for me.


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## Catalpa (Dec 18, 2011)

I put up about 14 pints of pole beans last summer, 8 pints of yellow, and 10 pints of dragon tongue. They were all frenched, and I packed the jars fairly tight. They turned out very well, there's a nice balance of liquid/beans in the jars, and they're not mushy. I'm really happy with the results; my only disappointment is that the dragon tongue beans lost their cool purple colors when I processed them. The pole beans are better than the regular bush green beans, so next summer I'll probably not grow any bush style.


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

Did you hot pack or raw pack?


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## Catalpa (Dec 18, 2011)

I raw packed all of them, covered with boiling water, and processed for 20 minutes at 10 pounds. (I live below 1,000 ft.)


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