# Is there really a difference in home canned green beans...



## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Flavor-wise, compared to commercially canned grean beans? Are you able to discern a difference in the flavor?

With home canned I know you're able to control what goes in them, but I'm not sure if it's worth the work? 

Have the opportunity to garden on a friend's property this year and trying to decide what's worth the work (re: canning that is...I love fresh veggies and they're certainly worth growing just for that).

While I'm asking, what about carrots? Any difference in the taste of home-canned carrots compared to commercially canned (which I do not like).


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## rags57078 (Jun 11, 2011)

I freeze most of my garden stuff


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## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

That's a good option, but I live in a small apt. with a small fridge which has a tiny freezer compartment.


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## elliemaeg (May 1, 2005)

Yes there is a difference in home canned and commercial canned green beans. I like home grown green beans(half runners or snake beans) . I like store bought gr beans as a side but not like my home grown beans. I dont like frozen gr beans of any kind.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Green beans, I do prefer home canned but I'll eat store bought. Carrots, I can't stand store bought but love my home canned ones. The nice part is I can grow veggies based on what I like best and not what processed best. 

There are many veggies where I prefer the type I grow way better than the fresh stuff I can buy at the store. 

I also like to make dilled beans, carrots and asparagus. Can't even find anything in the stores that come close to the taste. 

However if cost was my main concern, I would not can, I'd watch for sales at the store and buy that way (canned goods). And I don't think I'd bother canning if all I was doing was buying fresh from the grocery store, at least based on what fresh veggies cost in my area. You would think living rural there would be lots of cheap fresh veggies, but most people raise their own so there is not much of a market for truck farms, so there aren't any.


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

Another big advantage for my home canned beans is that I pick them much earlier than the commercial canned. Bought beans are far too mature to suit me.


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## Peggy (Feb 14, 2010)

I grew carrots last year and they lasted (in the ground) all winter. they taste so much better than store bought!!!! much more flavor.


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## SoINgirl (Aug 3, 2007)

I'm not a huge fan of green beans but I think that home canned have more flavor than store bought.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I won't hardly eat store bought canned green beans. Nothing beats the flavor of home canned green beans IMO.


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## Delrio (Mar 11, 2007)

No "tinny" taste!


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

I can taste the difference between good quality (Del Monte for example) and cheaper (Wyldwood) commercially canned, so I guess home canned word have a different tast (prolly better).

We don't can gb's, because they are lower on the priority list than pickles, jam and meat.


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

Since I have limited gardening space I grow Italian Flat Beans a type of green bean for our fresh Summer eating (steamed) then glean bush variety green beans for canning from local fields. 
Last year I was only able to get 30 or 40 pints canned it's our go to veggie. We all agree that there is no tin taste and that since it is free food (minus lid & electric cost) my home caned tastes the best. 

We're not big carrot eaters but one year I did can them with almond slices & honey. Recipe must have come from the Ball Big Book of canning. 


~~ pelenaka ~~


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## TenBusyBees (Jun 15, 2011)

To me commercial canned green beans are overprocessed... mushy and tasteless.


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## birdman1 (Oct 3, 2011)

The beans in the store are not nearly as flavor ful as my home canned the reason being the type of beans .I raise 1/2 runners to can my favorite type for flavor but due to them being a climber or pole vinining type they are more work to grow than a bush bean whitch is what comerchaly caned beans are .I also add a small pice of salt pork and a bit of pepper to each can .so instead of a bland storebought product I get a wonderfuly flavored bean that can be the main dish instead of a side .your home grown beans can be picked at the perfict stage of ripeness and canned right away this also helps the flavor .this also holds true with corn the loss of flavor is big after being picked a couple days .


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

The commercially canned beans are a variety that suits the canneries. They pull the whole plant when enough beans are ready and you will get some that are immature and some that are overly mature. Usually you will get one variety and will be a bush type bean. The advantage of home grown is that you can plant many different types and they all taste differently. I, like Palenaka, like the Italian flat beans. I LOVE the taste.

Something that no one has mentioned is the landfill subject. All that steel going to waste in a landfill is not somthing I like. By using reusable jars and Tattler lids I am eliminating trash.


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## udwe (Aug 8, 2009)

We can recycle steel cans here. Do you have aluminum can recycling there? They probably do steel also.


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## arrocks (Oct 26, 2011)

I agree with Sally's point that it depends on the variety you plants and there are many different ones that have a much better flavor. Commercial canned are primarily 1 variety - Bush Blue Lake.

Food Lab Food Science 532 Lab Manual has a good article with pics on how gb are canned commercially. It makes you want to grow and can your own.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Good article, Judy Lou - especially the part about zinc.


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## jamala (May 4, 2007)

I love home canned green beans and will not eat store bought (they have a medal taste to me). Home canned carrots are delicious to me and taste much better than store bought.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Sweetie only likes our home cnned tendergreen variety. Boughten canned are too strong for her. I like them better too. I don't like canned carrots, that is why I grow them in a raised bed (they grow all winter) and I also store some in the root cellar....James


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## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

Although I much prefer home canned green beans to store variety I find them a bit disappointing , I prefer frozen . Best veg I canned was sweet corn, done the same day I picked it and boy has it held up well


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## BobbyB (Apr 6, 2009)

My mom canned cases and cases of green beans and corn every year when I was growing up. Those home canned beans make me want to throw rocks at the store bought ones. 

Karla and I plan to can beans this year. I hope we can get close to Mom's.


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## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

This weekend I had the green beans I canned that were larger so I cut them into pieces( instead of the small whole beans I usually do ) I was impressed , the larger pcs held up well and were very tasty . This year I will freeze small ones and can larger . Bonus is that will be easier!


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

read up on BPA and you won't want to eat anything out of a can.I prefer the taste of my canned green beans. I like to grow blue lake and white 1/2 runner. I also add a chunk of smoked ham and salt to mine and processes longer because of the meat. The beans hold up well to the extra processing if they are fresh.


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## shepherdtim (Oct 22, 2009)

Is there a difference between daylight and dark??


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

Why not buy some fresh gr. beans and can them, then do a taste test betweeen your and the store bought ones. That way you will know first hand.


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## Cashs Cowgirl (Jan 26, 2006)

We can a lot of bean here. We love them and I canned over 200 jars last year. I plan to put up atleast that much this year. We prefer the flat italian ones. They hold up much better in soups and such. I only freeze towards the end of the season when the beans are coming in slowly...it's not worth it to break out the canner for a few jars here and there.


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## campfiregirl (Mar 1, 2011)

Green beans are one of the things we make the effort to can - such a big difference between home-canned & cans from the store.


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## Feisty Farm (Apr 10, 2012)

I agree. I wouldn't touch a store bought can of green beans (but I also don't buy anything in the store that comes in a can). I put up over 75 quarts of green beans every year. It is worth all the effort to me. We grow blue lakes, roma II Italian flat beans and yellow wax beans. You can't beat a big pot of home grown/canned green beans with potatoes out of the root cellar when the snow is flying.


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## paintlady (May 10, 2007)

The main difference is cost. Canning your own is way cheaper than buying them. You will get a lot of beans from a short row. They can also be made into pickles.


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## Raven12 (Mar 5, 2011)

rags57078 said:


> I freeze most of my garden stuff


This what I have always done but now I am starting to feel like I am missing out on something. Like I am outside of the Canning Inner Circle. So I am hedging. Should I buy the canning supplies or invest in a small freezer? Good thread.


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## kimberlyg (Apr 18, 2012)

Macybaby said:


> Green beans, I do prefer home canned but I'll eat store bought. Carrots, I can't stand store bought but love my home canned ones. The nice part is I can grow veggies based on what I like best and not what processed best.
> 
> There are many veggies where I prefer the type I grow way better than the fresh stuff I can buy at the store.
> 
> ...


I was going to mention the dilled beans, too! I can't find them in the store, either.


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## GrandmaKitty (Apr 20, 2012)

Raven12 said:


> This what I have always done but now I am starting to feel like I am missing out on something. Like I am outside of the Canning Inner Circle. So I am hedging. Should I buy the canning supplies or invest in a small freezer? Good thread.


Home canning will last through a power outage. Freezing... not so much. 

Hubby grew up on home frozen green beans, and I was raised on home canned. We both prefer what we grew up eating, but since I do the cooking... :grin: 


We've had a tough couple of years so I didn't can much. I bought green beans from the store on sale... great price! Thanksgiving morning I opened up a couple of cans of my "great-priced" green beans and found a woody, 6-inch stem canned and partially chopped up in one of them. The other can had stem ends included. So I had to go through them before preparing them for our meal to make sure they were ok.

*NOTHING* beats the care and known ingredients you can put into your own foods. 

And yes, I think they taste better, too.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Beans canned, corn frozen. Dilled beans are so good....James


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