Baking With Beans

  

Last year I accepted the challenge and baked these bean cakes.  Then I filed it away in the recesses of my memory somewhere and never tried it again. 

  Vanilla Bean Cake

2 1/2 cups cooked white beans (very well cooked or canned...must be soft!)
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3-1/2 cup honey

Puree well in food processor or use immersion blender.

Add:
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Puree again.

Bake at 325-350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Very moist and dense cake, but its very filling.

So recently I was looking through the cupboards trying to decide what to make for supper, and thought it's been awhile since the last pot of chili.  Then I thought about the beans

Baked Beans

Baked Beans

4 cups (1000 ml) dried peas or navy beans

8 oz (225 g) salt pork, cut into pieces

3 large onions

1/3 cup (150 ml) lightly packed brown sugar

2 tsp (10 ml) Each: salt & dry mustard

2/3 cup (150 ml) molasses


• Rinse beans; cover with cold water; let stand 12 to 18 hours in a cool place.

• Place required number of clean 500 ml or 1 L mason jars on rack in pressure canner; add water and heat jars to a simmer (180°F/82°C). Set screw bands aside; heat SNAP LID® sealing discs in hot water, not boiling (180°F/82°C). Keep jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use.

• Drain soaked beans; cover with 12 cups (3000 ml) water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently until bean skins begin to crack. Drain, reserving liquid. Pour beans into a baking dish; add salt, pork and onions. Combine brown sugar, salt, mustard and molasses with 4 cups (4000 ml) reserved cooking liquid. (Add water, if needed, to meet this measure). Pour sauce over beans; cover and bake at 350ºF (180ºC) about 3 1/2 hours. To home can Baked Beans, mixture must be “soupy”. If necessary, add water.

• Ladle hot prepared baked beans into a hot jar to within 1 inch (2.5 cm) of top of jar (head space).

• Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Centre hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner. Repeat for remaining beans and sauce. If stacking jars, place a second rack between layers of jars.

• When pressure canner is full, adjust water to level as directed by canner manufacturer. Lock canner lid in place and follow manufacturer’s heating instructions. Vent canner–allow steam to escape steadily–for 10 minutes; close vent.

• When canner reaches the pressure appropriate for your altitude* and type of pressure canner, begin counting processing time. Process – heat filled jars – for time indicated: 500 ml jars - 80 minutes; 1 L jars – 95 minutes.

 Pinto Beans:
Start with 8 cups of dry beans, rinsed very well.  Place beans in a large pot and cover with at least 2″ of water.  Bring to a boil and let boil, uncovered for 2 – 3 minutes.  Remove from heat (but do not drain), cover and let sit for 1 hour.  Drain, rinse again with cold water.  Cover with at least 2″ of water.  Bring to a boil, uncovered.  Continue boiling uncovered for about 30 minutes.  Stir often so they don’t stick.  At this point, you can add whatever seasonings you like.  I had a lot of cumin.  I’ve never measured but I’m thinking 3 tablespoons??  I’ll pay more attention next time.
Here . . I’ll figure you know the basics of canning.   Pack beans and liquid into jars, leaving 1″ of head space.  To the quart jars, I ad 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro, 1/2 of a seeded jalapeno pepper and a clove of garlic I’ve sliced in half.  Kinda stir those things around a bit and make sure all the air is out of the jar.  Clean the tops well, place the lids and rings on.  Process quarts at 10 pounds pressure for 1-1/2 hours.  Yep  . . it takes a long time.
Since I’m making 2 batches, I keep the remaining beans in the pot and heat them up just before time to put them in jars to put into the canner.  Do not put them in the jars and allow them to sit and cool before you put them into the canner.
For the Baked Beans:
2 pounds navy beans, rinsed well
1/2 pound salt pork
3 large onions (nice when you can get Vidalias)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2/3 cup molasses


Place beans in a large pot and cover with at least 2″ of water.  Bring to a boil and let boil, uncovered for 2 – 3 minutes.  Remove from heat (but do not drain), cover and let sit for 1 hour.  Drain, rinse again with cold water.  Cover with at least 2″ of water.  Bring to a boil, uncovered.  Reduce heat.  Cover and continue to gently simmer until skins begin to crack or loosen.  Drain but save the liquid.  Pour beans into a large covered oven proof pan or bean pot.  Add pork and onions.  Stir in remaining ingredients and 4 cups of bean liquid.  If you’re short on liquid, add water.  Cover and bake at 350º for 3-1/2 hours.  Add more bean liquid or water if necessary.  Beans should be soupy.  Pack beans in pint jars, leaving 1″ headspace.  Remove air and clean edges well.  Place rings and lids on jars.  Process pints at 10 pounds pressure for 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Canning Dry Beans

Lentils

Quarts- 1 1/4 cups clean, dry (raw) beans
            Add 1 teaspoon salt
            Fill with boiled water, leaving 1 inch of headspace.

Pressure can at 15 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes.

Pints-  2/3 cup of clean, dry (raw) beans
          Add 1/2 teaspoon salt
          Fill jar with boiled water, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Pressure can at 15 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes.

Based on Caitlin's recipe.

Berry Juice

 Berry Juice


1.  Thoroughly rinse berries, and place them in a heavy pot with just enough water to make them bob. Bring to a slow boil, mash with a potato masher or spoon, bring back to a boil, and remove from the heat. Cool slightly.

Mixture of raspberries, blueberries and saskatoon berries.

 2.  Pour the mashed berries into a jelly bag or a colander lined with several thicknesses of cheesecloth. Let drip overnight and collect the juice in a pot.
3.  For a 4L jug, mix one quart concentrate, 1 Cup sugar, fill with water.

Dripping Juice, Jug of Juice

4.  Add a teaspoon of lemon or lime juice per cup.  Boil juice.  Process in a BWB canner for 10 minutes.

Two quarts berry juice concentrate for the pantry

Blueberry, raspberry, watermelon

Mint Jelly

Mint Jelly

3 cups packed fresh mint leaves and stems
3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 1/2 cups boiling water
2 drops green food colour
6 cups white sugar
1 jar liquid pectin

Rinse off the mint leaves, and place them into a large saucepan. Crush. Add water, and bring the mint to a boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain. Pour into a saucepan. Stir in the lemon juice and food colouring. Mix in the sugar, and place the pan over high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the pectin. Boil the mixture for a full minute while stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and skim foam off the top using a large metal spoon. Transfer the mixture to hot sterile jars, and seal.

Process BWB 10 minutes.

* Dark, due to home made pectin.