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.