stock for beans

[Jamie]

I'm making this for one more pot of fresh green beans, ham, and potatoes. I make the same stock for soup beans (great northern and pinto).

two smoked ham hocks, shanks or a left over ham bone, large quartered onion, two carrots, two large smashed cloves garlic, celery tops, fresh bay leaves, three jalepenos or jalefuegos (cannot tell them apart now), some salt, peppercorns, and whole allspice berries, one gallon water. boil, reduce to simmer for about four hours or until hocks fall apart. cool, strain, reserving whatever meat the hocks have on them, chill overnight, skim hardened fat off the top, reduce to two quarts and then...

 

[Jackalope]

I wonder if you could can green beans in it. I usually put them up in water with a teaspoon of salt and minced garlic. Being a meat based stock I'm wondering if the typical times would need to be adjusted.

 

[Jamie]

good question, and a damn good idea! I usually put them up in water with salt, too. I would tend to think the 30 minutes in pressure canner to cook the beans would be sufficient time above 240* for the stock, too. low acid food is low acid food, but I would dig for a certain answer from a trusted food preservation source before doing it. maybe next year. my beans are pretty well done now.

 

[Jamie]

I'm making this for one more pot of fresh green beans, ham, and potatoes. I make the same stock for soup beans (great northern and pinto).

View attachment 85298

two smoked ham hocks, shanks or a left over ham bone, large quartered onion, two carrots, two large smashed cloves garlic, celery tops, fresh bay leaves, three jalepenos or jalefuegos (cannot tell them apart now), some salt, peppercorns, and whole allspice berries, one gallon water. boil, reduce to simmer for about four hours or until hocks fall apart. cool, strain, reserving whatever meat the hocks have on them, chill overnight, skim hardened fat off the top, reduce to two quarts and then...

since I have bacon ends, I dice up about 8oz worth and brown

add stock, beans, cubed ham (a pound or so, plus whatever meat I get from hocks), cook covered, stirring often for about 30-40 min or until the beans are getting tender.

add 2-3 lbs of potatoes cut into bite sized chunks or so, cook covered for another 20-30 min until taters are soft.

these were so good I forgot to take a pic of the finished product.

 

[Venefikus]

I wonder if you could can green beans in it. I usually put them up in water with a teaspoon of salt and minced garlic. Being a meat based stock I'm wondering if the typical times would need to be adjusted.

If you add canned beans it's best to add them at the end seeing as they're already cooked. Cooking in stock as apposed to water should affect the cook time. If you want to quicken bean cook time, and are using dried soak them over night in at least 3 times he amount of water in a container (or pot) that is way bigger than you think you'll need.

 

[Jamie]

his idea was to use stock instead of plain water for pressure canning fresh green beans to put them up for future use.