Green Beans

There've been some questions about green beans recently, so here's the skinny.

Some varieties of beans are best put by in the freezer, while others handle the canning process quite nicely. Be sure to read the seed catalogue descriptions, when you are planning your garden, so you are not disappointed with the final product. Vesey and Burpee are good about that, and both companies carry varieties that do nicely with short seasons.

Canning does not improve the quality of the food put by. If beans are past their prime, they’re not going to get any better by dumping them in jars and pressure cooking them. You’ll have much better results, if you can beans that are slightly immature.

Because green beans are low-acid, they must be pressure canned to ensure safety. At our elevation (about 3,000 feet),that means 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts at 12 pounds pressure. You do have choices, as to hot or cold pack and whether to salt or not, and that is nice. Salt is only added for taste, not to preserve. You may can beans whole (tip and tail them first) or cut into one inch pieces for convenient additions to soups and stews.

For hot pack, cover beans with boiling water. Boil 5 minutes. Pack loosely in canning jars; add salt, if desired. Cover with boiling cooking liquid. Leave one inch head space.
For cold pack, pack tightly in canning jars; add salt, if desired. Cover with boiling water.
Processing time is the same for both methods.

Remember to vent your canner properly to be sure your foods are safely processed. Air trapped in a pressure canner lowers the temperature inside the canner. To vent a pressure canner, allow steam to escape steadily from the petcock for ten minutes, then close the petcock or put the weighted gauge on the canner.

Food Safety Issues

Reading about the recalls of packaged salad mix and packaged spinach got me thinking about toxins that can cause illness, specifically E. coli and Clostridium botulinum, commonly referred to as botulism. We live in strange times, indeed, when women have botox injections to smooth out wrinkles. Yessir, nothing like pumping your face full of deadly poison to get that baby-smooth complexion.

What is botulism? Glad you asked.
Botulism is caused by a toxin that is produced in food by the bacteria, Clostridium botulinum, which is found in soil all over the world. The soil in the western United States is high in type A Clostridium botulinum, which is the most dangerous type to humans. Alaska and Washington have the highest rates of botulism occurring in soils.

This bacteria forms spores, which are very resistant to heat, chemicals, and physical stress. When the spores grow, they produce the deadly neurotoxin that causes botulism.
The frequency of botulism cases is rare, but each year several outbreaks occur. Often these are caused by improperly home-canned foods. Fish, green beans, corn, beets, spinach, asparagus, and chili peppers are the most common foods implicated in botulism cases. Recently a case involved home-prepared “pickled” eggs.

Several conditions are necessary for a botulism outbreak. First, the botulinum organism must be in the food. Second, the acidity level must be low. The organism cannot grow when the acid level is high. A pH level of 4.6 or less means conditions are not right for the growth of Clostridium botulinum. Most types of this organism grow best at warm temperatures; however, growth has been observed at temps as low as 38 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 118 degrees Fahrenheit. The organisms cannot grow if air or free oxygen is available. Oxygen-free (anaerobic) conditions occur when food is canned.

Home food preservers understand the necessity for pressure canning foods that are low acid. That means processing these foods at higher temperatures than just boiling, if we are to destroy the extremely heat-resistant botulism spores. Just because your jar has sealed, doesn’t mean you have a safe product. Processing foods under pressure raises the temperature inside the canner to a level that does destroy these nasty spores. That temperature is 240 degrees Fahrenheit and can only be achieved by pressure canning, which can be thought of as simply “higher-temperature” canning. Properly home-canned food is safe. For an extra guarantee of safety, home-canned veggies, meat, and fish may be boiled for ten minutes at 1,000 feet altitude before eating. Boiling destroys the botulism toxin. Remember to add an additional minute boiling time for each additional 1,000 feet of elevation.

Next week we’ll finish up this delightful topic. A parting thought: mistakes most often occur at two times in our lives. The first time is when we are learning a skill, and the second is when we get sloppy, careless, and take shortcuts, because we have been doing something for a very long time. It’s good practice to review the rules and instructions before we begin anything. Better safe than sorry, to use an old and very true aphorism.