Green beans are the garden gift that keeps on giving. If you can keep up with the picking about 1-2 times per week, green beans will just keep on making beans until they freeze. What to do with all those green beans? One of my favorite methods of preserving green beans is dehydrating. The main reason I like it so much is that it shrinks a grocery sack full of fresh green beans into a quart jar of dehydrated beans. And I’ve always lived in a house without enough storage room, so making something take up less space is ideal. Dehydrating saves freezer space and lengthens the shelf life of your preserved green beans over canned beans.
I know you’re itching to get started, so here’s how to dehydrate green beans:
1. Pick, wash, and snap or cut your beans into the size you want to eat. My pieces are usually 1-1 1/2 inches long. If the kids are snapping, they’re all random and that’s okay–they all taste the same.
2. Once you have your green beans prepped, you’ll need to blanch them. Get a pot of water to boiling and put your bean pieces in it.
Keep the beans in the pot for 5-7 minutes. They’ll turn brighter green.
3. Cool the beans by taking them out of the boiling water and putting them in cold water. I use a basket in my pot of water so I can get all the beans out quickly. If you don’t have something to get the beans in and out, you can also put all your beans in the pot at the same time (if your pot is big enough) and just drain the whole pot when the blanching time is done.
4. Place the cooled beans on the dehydrator trays and dry. I dry mine in my Excalibur for 5-8 hours at 125 degrees. You want them nice and brittle when they’re done.
That’s it. I like to store these in a jar. Suck the air out with a FoodSaver Jar Sealer attachment to store them long term. They are so hard, they’re kind of sharp and like to poke through products like Foodsaver bags. For reference, a standard plastic grocery sack of green beans fills a quart jar when they are dried. Enjoy!
Keep preparing! Angela
***************************************************************
Subscribe to my email newsletter for updates and special deals.
Please be sure to follow Food Storage and Survival on Facebook which is updated every time there is a new article. You can also find me on Pinterest, and purchase my book, Food Storage for Self Sufficiency and Survival on Amazon.
***************************************************************
Shop the Thrive Monthly Specials or my favorites, the freeze dried vegetables and yogurt bites!
***************************************************************
how do you use the green beans when you rehydrate them? I’ve heard that they are not at their best when dehydrated and rehydrated.
I use them in soups or boil them and eat them just as green beans. We don’t use them too often though, as we usually have fresh or frozen beans to use. They aren’t as pretty as fresh and tend to be slightly chewier than their original selves. Not much that you dehydrate reconstitutes to be the same or better than before it was dried, but they’re definitely edible and even tend to taste a bit sweeter than the original bean.
I just looked through all your dehydrating recipes (loving your site!). I’m definitely going to dehydrate my green bean bounty tonight, along with some bags of frozen vegges we got on sale last week. I also wanted to suggest a site with some recipes using dehydrated ingredients that you might like it’s backpackingchef(dot)com :)
How do you use your dried greenbeans? I have never thought of dehydrating green beans…such a great idea!
The dried green beans can be reconstituted and eaten as is or put in soups. Those are my favorite ways to use them. I don’t use them too often as they aren’t quite the same as a fresh or frozen bean and usually I have some of those on hand to use.
How long do they keep? Do you freeze them after drying or just keep in the cupboard or fridge?
I just put them on the shelf in a cupboard or my food storage room. In the jar with a lid on but NOT vacuum sealed I’d say they’re good for 1-2 years. Vacuum sealing the jar increases the shelf life to probably 5-7 years. They are crispy dry, so there is no need to refrigerate or freeze them.
Do they have to be blanched first?
Blanching preserves the flavor and nutritional value, so even though it is probably possible to dehydrate green beans that have not been blanched, it is recommended to blanch them.
I’m going to try the old leather britches/shucky beans method where you string them up and hang them to dry. I’ve heard they are even better than using a dehydrator.
How did they turn out for you? Curious. Dehydrating my first ones now.