Canning Ham and Bean Soup
This is a great recipe to make delicious soup and store it for future meals.
- Yield: 10 quarts 1x
- Method: pressure canning
Ingredients
Scale
- 1lb great northern, or navy beans
- 4 cups diced ham
- 2 cups chopped celery (about 3 stalks)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 cup chopped carrot (about 1 large carrot)
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Tony’s creole seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt per quart
- 5 quarts (more or less) ham broth, chicken broth, or water
Canning supplies:
- 10 quart canning jars
- Lids and rings
- Pressure canner
- Canning Funnel
- Jar lifter (optional)
Instructions
- Gather ingredients, and and prepare canning supplies (sterilizing jars, lids, etc.)
- Combine carrots, onion, celery, and garlic together. This just makes it easier to fill the jars more quickly, and get an equal amount in each jar
- Combine seasonings together (for the same reason)
- In each quart jar, add 1/2 cup, or for less broth, more beans, up to 2/3 cup, of dry beans. If you choose to use pre-soaked beans, add about 1 cup, or 1 1/4 cup maximum, as the beans will still continue to absorb broth as they go through the canning process, and you need to leave room for the other ingredients.
- Next, layer in 1/2 cup of cubed ham
- Divide combined vegetables between the jars
- And finally, divide the seasonings between the jars
- Fill jars with ham broth, chicken broth, or water, leaving about an inch of headspace
- Wipe rims clean with a soft, fuzz-free cloth, and screw down lids and rings firmly
- Prepare pressure canner, according to your particular pressure canner’s needs. For a standard 16 quart pressure canner, this usually means adding 2 quarts of water
- Be sure to add the pressure canner’s inner rack to separate the jars from the bottom of the canner for even heating
- Arrange jars in canner so that they do not touch each other, or the canner walls. When the canner is full, they may be very close, but the best safeguard against jars breaking is that they don’t touch.
- Lock lid onto canner with vent open, and heat over medium-high heat until a steady stream of steam begins to escape
- After ten minutes of steam, close valve, and heat to 10 pounds of pressure (for those under 1,000 above sea level. For those above this, sea this pressure conversion chart.) https://extension.sdstate.edu/altitude-adjustments-home-canning
- Process quart jars for 90 minutes at pressure
- When processing time is complete, remove canner from heat, and let return to zero pressure naturally (a sudden release of pressure can cause jars to break, or even explode)
- It’s fine to let jars cool completely inside the canner, but if you need to take them out, let them cool as long as you can, and be sure to protect the jar from sudden temperature changes or drafts as you remove it, and yourself from the jar as well. I usually will cover the jar with a towel as I remove it, and place it on a towel-lined cupboard, covering it with a second towel until it is completely cooled, and have very rarely had one break, even when the jars are still boiling when I remove them. But remember, it never hurts to exercise more caution than necessary.
- After the jars have cooled, test for seals
- After 24 hours, you may wash jars (mine always have hard water residue), remove rings, and store out of direct light.