Snippin' n Snappin'

That's what my grandmother use to call it when we were putting up green beans. We would snip off the stem end and snap the bean in half.

I have some very fond memories of the huge garden my grandparents use to have. I remember sitting in the three season porch with a big bowl in my lap filled with green beans for me to snip n snap. I remember the tomato plants. I would go out and pluck the cherry tomatoes off the bush and just pop them in my mouth. I would go into the corn field and husk a cob and eat it raw. They were soo sweet and yummy. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I remember having my first lessons on canning and freezing the harvest from my grandmother. She always used those rectangular and square freezer containers. I remember the huge (well it was huge to a little girl anyway) up right freezer that I swear had been in her family for years. It had one of those pull out handles. You can't find freezers like those anymore.

It is memories like this that pop into my mind a lot this time of year. Even more so now since my grandmother passed. I still miss her terribly, but I have so many wonderful, happy memories of her.

Today, I broke down and bought some green beans from the farm up the street from my house. I don't know how much I grabbed, but I wanted (or needed) to put up some beans. We love them here and I spent the evening snippin' n snappin'. I ended up with 5 pints. A good start, just hoping the pole beans produce something soon. The bush beans never came back after Mrs. groundhog ate them.

While my green beans were in the pressure canner, I curled up with one of the books my grandmother use to use when putting up her harvests. She said most of what she learned came from her mom and grandmother, so it was all memory, but she still had this book. It is from the early 80's. I know the rules for canning have changed since then, so these recipes may not be able to be used. I tend to stick with the basics that I know anyway.

Wow! I just found some hand written recipes and clippings from the news paper for canning recipes. I have no idea what one of the recipes is that my grandmother wrote out. The others are piccalilli and pepper jam. I have never had either of those. I am going to cherish these little notes.

Following the directions in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, this is how to can green beans. I do the raw pack.

Wash beans and drain. Trim and cut or break into 2 inch pieces (snippin' n snappin').
Tightly pack beans into hot jars. Add canning salt, if using any, I don't.
Ladle boiling water into jar to cover beans, leaving a 1 inch head space.
Remove air bubbles and adjust head space, if you need to,by adding more hot water.
Wipe rim, add lid and screw band. to finger tight.
Process in pressure canner at 10 lbs for 20 minutes for pints and 25 for quarts.