Green Beans and Endless Possibilities
GREEN BEANS are in the Farm Stand in quantities for canning, freezing or preserving! How about making some fermented dilly green beans? Szechuan green beans for dinner? Freeze the harvest of green beans for winter pot roast, soup, or stews. Get the canner out and process several quarts of green beans for three bean salad, a fast side dish, and Thanksgiving dinner green bean casserole. The possibilities are endless, but the green beans will be gone soon!
Green Beans are a Low Acid Food
Green beans require pressure canning or blanching and freezing to be properly preserved. There are many resources to give you exact requirements and details like the Oregon State Home Food Preservation page. Green beans are very simple to pressure can once you are familiar and comfortable with a pressure canner. Using the blanch and freeze method is also a delicious way to preserve green beans while they are in abundance at the farm.
Adding to Soup
Using your favorite vegetable soup recipe or hamburger soup recipe, add green beans to the pot once they have been washed and snapped. Once the large pot of soup is cooled store in gallon sized zip top freezer bags. The frozen soup is great for a quick meal any time of year. Green beans are rich in vitamins A, C, K, and calcium, and folic acid. They add variety of flavor and texture to any meal and especially a summer fresh pot of soup!
Green beans are a timeless seasonal marker! When they are ripe, the hot summer days are here. Enjoying the abundance of harvest for fresh eating, fermenting, roasting, BBQ, stir fry, and boiling will add variety to your summertime meals. Green beans are also a precious family past time of sitting together, with a bowl of beans to snap and prepare for the next summer meal.
