I suppose one always has those “favorite” garden vegetables to can. One at the top my list is green beans. They are so fun to plant (large seeds), grow quickly, look nice in the garden and usually produce well from summer to frost. The key to having them keep producing is to keep them well picked. Once they begin setting lumpy seeds in the bean pods, the plant shifts from flowering and making more beans to putting all its energy into making seeds. And that’s the end of your green beans for the year; there’s no going back.

I had great green beans last year, so when I planted the garden this spring, I decided not to plant so many. Well, I put in a row and that looked SO lonely. So I put in another, then some fillet beans to can whole for a change. But then I broke some more brushy ground and decided “Oh what the heck, if green beans won’t make it here, nothing will.” And I planted two more big rows. The trouble is that all of them did very well.

Shrug. Oh well. Now I am picking a big basket full every other day and canning them up. My pantry shelves are bulging with jars of green beans. But it’s oh so fun, too. They’re so easy to put up; just cut the ends off, cut them into convenient pieces, pack the jars, add salt and pour boiling water over the beans. To top it all off, they only need half an hour’s processing for big quart jars! That’s double sweet!

One reason I enjoy putting up beans is that they are large and quickly readied for canning. Some foods, such as peas, take much more dinking around with for a smaller yield. I can pick a basketful in half an hour, cut them in 15 minutes and they’re ready to go. And I’ll get about 10 pints and 7 quarts out of that basketful, too. All good eating.

I don’t think I’ll ever get over the thrill when I pull a bean bush over to access the bottom and find dozens upon dozens of nice long, tender, well filled out juicy green pods. And I’ll always probably plant too many. Just because we love them so much.

I put readers questions with my answers below:

Canning bruschetta topping

I’ve had a very good yr with my garden - lots of tomatoes. I’ve already canned salsa and marinara sauce. Do you have a recipe for canning a bruschetta topping? I quite often make this fresh during
the yr and it would be so much more convenient to just open a jar and since I have so many tomatoes . . .

Nancy Sturgul
Tomahawk, Wisconsin

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