K-State Research and Extension

Many gardeners plant green beans every year. Harvest snap beans when the pod is crisp, smooth, and before the seeds enlarge significantly. Do not harvest in early morning when dew is on the plants as this may spread bacterial blight.

Once harvested, they are a nutritious addition to many meals. But if you have a bountiful harvest, preserving them is a great choice. Green beans can be pressure canned, pickled, frozen or dehydrated. Use these resources to find methods to preserve green beans safely.

• Preserve it Fresh, Preserve it Safe – Beans
• Conservas Frescas, Conservas Seguras, Los Frijoles
• National Center for Home Food Preservation

The National Center for Home Food Preservation continues to recommend peeling tomatoes for canning, unless specified otherwise, because most tested recipes were developed with the skins removed, and the processing times are based on peeled tomatoes. Skins may interfere with heat penetration during the canning process, leading to under-processing and potentially unsafe products. Additionally, removing the skins not only enhances safety by reducing the bacterial load but also improves the texture and flavor of the finished product. Tomato skins tend to leave tough, chewy bits and can impart a bitter taste to your canned goods.

For more information on preserving tomatoes, see Preserve it Fresh, Preserve it Safe: Tomatoes and Conservas Frescas, Conservas Seguras, Tomates.

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Sometimes a jar in a canner load fails to seal upon cooling. This may happen because of a cracked or nicked jar, or perhaps because food is fouling the jar rim where the lid sits. Due to loss of quality, reprocessing of jars is not recommended.

If you do reprocess, follow these steps for a safe product:

1. Re-process within 24 hours. For a safe final product, you must have followed an up-to-date research-tested recipe on your first attempt, and you must reprocess within 24 hours.
2. Remove the lid and empty the contents of the jar into a large pot and heat to boiling.
3. Fill a clean jar with the heated food, remove air bubbles, and top with a new lid.
4. Reprocess using a tested recipe for a hot-pack product.  If there is no tested hot-pack recipe, the product may not be safely reprocessed.

If you did not follow a tested recipe on the first try, all jars, sealed or unsealed, may be unsafe and should be discarded. 

To preserve quality of food where jars failed to seal (and discovered within 24 hours of initial canning), refrigerate the jars and consume contents within one week. Unsealed jars may also be frozen for up to one year, be sure to adjust headspace to one inch before freezing.

Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation – Newsflash

When following a validated home canning recipe that calls for broth, it is essential to select the appropriate type for safety reasons. Reconstituted bouillon cubes, powders, pastes and bone broths are not suitable for home canning, as they often contain ingredients such as starches or gelatin, for which there is insufficient data regarding their impact on canning safety.

If the recipe specifies broth, a commercially prepared liquid broth—matched to the flavor indicated in the recipe—is an acceptable option. However, it is important to note that broth and stock are not interchangeable in home canning. Stock typically differs in composition and may pose safety concerns, making it unsuitable as a substitute in tested recipes.

Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation – Newsflash