# Bush beans



## coonripper (Jan 8, 2009)

How do you preserve bush beans. My kids love them and i have no clue how to preserve pole beans or bush beans. I tried to freeze them last year but they were mushy when thawed out


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## Canning Girl (Jan 13, 2010)

The best way to preserve them, in my opinion, is to pressure can them. To do this you need to have a pressure canner. They are not hard to do, but because they are low acid, they do have to be pressure canned as opposed to water bathed.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

certain types of beans are not good to can (mushy) but others are great.


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

Here are the instructions for canning green beans: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_04/beans_snap_italian.html

And here are the instructions for freezing green beans: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze/bean_green.html Note that they must be blanched first then ice water dipped prior to freezing. Some find that after draining them freezing them spread out on a cookie sheet for an hour or so before putting them in bags makes them less mushy when thawed.

But as DW pointed out the variety of bean (ie: Contender, Blue Lake, Top Crop, etc.) makes a difference too. Some varieties tolerate both freezing and canning better than others.


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## Lucy (May 15, 2006)

There are also safe recipes for canning pickled dill beans. 
I like Blue Lake beans the best. That or Kentucky Wonder.


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

coonripper..canning green beans is easy and you will love them I think. I too plant Kentucky Wonder and Blue Lake. I've tried others but always come back to them.

Below is a website..if you go there, there is an article about canning green beans for beginners. Jump in! This forum is so helpful..if you get stuck or have a quick question..someone on here will definitely talk you through it!


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## praieri winds (Apr 16, 2010)

I dehydrated a bunch last summer just soak them for 30 min in warm water then cook them until they are done to your liking they are good to add to cassaroles and soups too


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

Sherry - some unknown person's personal blog is not the best way to learn about canning methods and safety. Especially for beginners.

I'm not saying there is any wrong information on the one you linked to as I didn't explore it. But there are many of these "let me show you how I can _______" personal sites on the web. Some of them are fine but many of them are inaccurate, even dangerous in the information they provide. 

Meanwhile the Ball Blue Book, a tested, trusted, and approved source of canning information, provides a detailed step-by-step-in-pictures on how-to can green beans.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

We pressure can half our bean crop (bush and pole) and we blanche and freeze the other half. The frozen beans we use in stir fry, curry, roasted and sautee.


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## Aseries (Feb 24, 2011)

When I grow beans in the garden I put the poles about 12ft high, I let the top half that I cant reach dry and store them dry and I eat the bottom half of the beans. Dry beans will last a very long time. Unless you want the whole bean, drying them is simple... 

I haven tried canning beans, I dont eat that many canned anyway, I prefer to eat fresh beans and heat up the dried ones in the winter... lol


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## jkhs (Sep 17, 2010)

I agree, the variety of bean makes a big difference. I usually freeze my beans, but at the beginning I had a hard time with the blanching. I either did it too long or not enough. Either way the finished product wasn't great. Then I discovered purple beans-I love the fact that they change color (from purple to green) when they've been blanched just the right amount of time. Now I make sure that there are at least a few purple beans in each batch of beans I'm working on.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

Great tip on the Purple beans...my neighbor lady bought some for planting in her flowerbed, I'll be pirating some...~lol~...


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## Lucy (May 15, 2006)

I remember the first time we planted the purple beans. I was so surprised they turned green when they were cooked. Even the bush was purple on ours. 
Good point that using a variety of preserving methods may be a good idea. Use frozen for some things, canned for some, and dehydrated for others.


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

judylou said:


> Sherry - some unknown person's personal blog is not the best way to learn about canning methods and safety. Especially for beginners.
> 
> I'm not saying there is any wrong information on the one you linked to as I didn't explore it. But there are many of these "let me show you how I can _______" personal sites on the web. Some of them are fine but many of them are inaccurate, even dangerous in the information they provide.
> 
> Meanwhile the Ball Blue Book, a tested, trusted, and approved source of canning information, provides a detailed step-by-step-in-pictures on how-to can green beans.




Wow..sorry if I broke a rule or something. I have done it that way for 30 years..lol..but I'm not an expert. Again, sorry I posted non viable information.


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