If you eat beans, then one of the first thing I would recommend for making as a filling staple is without a doubt would be baked beans..
In this case I soaked a pound of Molasses Face heritage beans over night in double, then after a water change, they got a slow simmer till tender before being baked off in a low 300c oven for a couple hours.
I had a couple bacon ends that I finely sliced up, (about 4 regular slices of bacon), two med onions diced, salt, pepper, dry mustard, tomato paste and beef broth to cover.. it was a delightful hot lunch on a good work day to bring in the new year 2022..
A double portion will be going into the fridge for fresh eating, the rest will be split, half will be put into pint jars with extra beef broth with some molasses as needed and pressure canned..
The second half will be made into a Old Settler Bean version.. one pound of ground beef will be cooked up, to which will be added my BBQ sauce, some chili powder and a bit more black pepper.. then that will be canned up at the same time.. Allowing me to get three different types of baked beans out of the same big batch and making two kinds in the pressure canner load to keep everything shelf stable.
If you want a bean that very much takes on all the flavour, then stay with white navy beans, as the Molasses bean has a lot of its own flavour as most heritage type beans do.. Its a little bit, with a little more “tooth” or firmer bite to it then the navy will have. however I also find it holds up a bit better in the canning process.
I love freshly made beans and I know they can be frozen but for me at least, I perfer them canned.. What about you? Do you like baked beans? Canned baked beans? Do you like your beans with or without bacon? Maple based, Tomato based, Dark Molasses style? Sweet or with heat?
What kinds of Heritage beans do you grow that you love in a baked bean dish?
Just another Day on the Farm 
Molasses is a must in my beans – either canned or homemade. The Man is from the UK. He loves canned beans but is not a fan of molasses. He is a heathen.
My brother and I used to fight over the bit of fat in the canned beans my mother served. Good times.
Haha, I know just what you mean but my mother almost always got that big of fat lol.. Everyone around me locally adore’s their maple beans.. but I love my dark Molasses for sure. lol on the he is a heathen..
I’ve canned ‘pork and beans’ for years…white navy beans, bacon, sometimes left over ham, molasses, brown sugar, tomato sauce etc. They are awesome for hubby to take for lunch cause you can microwave them in the jar. And awesome for a quick lazy dinner – we have ours with fried eggs and bacon.
The next time I have spare ground beef I’m going to can up some chilli. Somebody got a craving for chilli dogs one day (🤢not me) and bought a can of chilli from the store. I have to say – what the hell ever was in that can, didn’t much look like or taste like chilli. Nasty. First and last can of store bought chilli to be coming through my kitchen that’s for sure. It was a testament to how well we actually eat when we avoid processed food.
I totally understand this, as I bought canned “chili” on that dollar store challenge that Crafty put on.. I have no idea what the bleep I eat but it was not good .. Canned chili is a huge favorite in this house as well and I make a big batch often.. I have slacked a touch on the soups, stews and chilis because hubby is not taking them to work with him at lunch anymore.. given he has been working from home for close to 21 months now but I still always have some made up ahead.. just not as much as I normally would.. I do have plans to do a good amount of canning this month..
That’s something I don’t think people consider – that you can process food year round. I know many women who haul the canners out come harvest time and put them away til next year. Like you, my canners are never very far from the kitchen no matter the time of the year.
You will understand how excited I am about this lol.. normally I have at least one pressure canner floating around my kitchen, dining room and then I get.. put it away so down to the basement it goes and then a couple days later, bring me back up the pressure canner lol.. So I finally got a massive heavy duty storage rack to fit the one wall in my laundry room, which is just a smaller foyer from my dining room/kitchen and all three pressure canners and extras are all filling up the bottom shelf.. whoot.. no more up and down the stairs.. lol and heck ya, I can all year long..
Hi Farm Gal.
Your baked beans sound delicious.
I have never canned our baked beans just eaten them right away or froze them. But I would like to start canning them so that I don’t rely on our freezer as much in case of power outages.
I have a few questions
1) What type of molasses do you use? – I have Blackstrap and find it quite strong. I use only a little bit in recipes
2) I have some old pole bean seeds that I saved several years ago to replant but they are no longer viable – can these be used to make baked beans?
3) To pressure can, if we add bacon, is the timing 75 mins for pints and 90 mins for quarts?
Thanks. Hope you have a great day.
Good Morning Cate, I use Fancy Molasses and I use max 1/4 cup but if you find it to strong, start with 2 Tbsp and then add more on the next batch.. now if you only have Black strap, it is very strong compared, start with 1 tbsp and see if you like it.. 2, the beans are tricky, the odds are yes you can use them and have no issues but you will not have the answer till you cook them.. I have had old bean, I mean really old beans that no matter how much I soaked and cooked them, never really got soft.. and they need to be cooked till soft bite before adding the sauce to them and canning or baking them.. I would go for it personally, I do not think you will have a issue at all with beans that are only a couple years old.. 3, yes that is the timing I used 75 for pints and 90 for quarts..
Thanks. Will try those suggestions 🙂
I’ll ad to this – we have very hard water. I can soak and cook beans until next year in hard water and they will not soften. When I do my beans I use ‘town water’ both for soaking and cooking.
Oh, that’s a great add on.. thanks!