canning dry beans

I was talking to a friend last week and she mentioned that she was going to be starting her 'winter' canning this week.  I told her I had to know what she was talking about.  She explained how she cans dried beans.  It made a lot of sense.   And since winter is an 'off' time for most other canning, she does a bunch of beans.  Dried beans in the bags are so super cheap, but not convenient to use.  When you can dried beans, they are ready to use in a jar, just like if you had bought beans in a can.  Plus, you know what is in your can.

I took the directions she gave me and did a little reading online.  I tried great northern beans first. I have kidney, pinto, and black beans to try next.  I bought two regular sized bags and it made 7 pints.

Rinse and check out beans.  Take out any yucky ones.

Fill each pint jar with 2/3 c dried beans. (My friend said to fill them half way, I kept reading 2/3 c though, so I went with that).  Optional addition at this point would be 1/4 t salt.

Fill the jars with boiling water leaving @1 inch head space.  Place in pressure caner.  Prepare caner according to your specific model.

They need to be processed at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes.  My friend said 90 minutes, but I was reading that that number was for quarts. 

Here they are.  The beans cook up during the processing.   I read some people on line saying that they fell like beans done this way end up mushy.  We will see.  I will have to use some this week sometimes to test them out.