Canning garlic with green beans and adding meat to pintos when canning
Question one. Would throwing a couple large cloves of garlic in a jar of green beans while canning, be safe (considering the various warnings against canning garlic)? Question two. Since most recipes for canning dried beans don’t mention using meat, would it be okay to add a small amount of side meat or bacon to pintos when canning them?
Rick Gibson
Floyd, Virginia
I would not add the garlic cloves to your green beans. Too dangerous. You could, however add a little garlic powder for flavoring if you wish. The reason for this is that the garlic cloves are more dense, where the powder is simply a spice and is not dense. You can add a LITTLE bacon or ham to your pintos when you can, as you would, adding a LITTLE ham or bacon to baked beans you’re canning. But this is for a bit of flavoring. If you add more than a little, you must process your pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes to be safe. — Jackie
