How to cook legumes for preservation? How to store legumes in jars? Here is the article many of you have requested and I have finally decided to publish. Here you will find how to cook and can chickpeas, lentils, beans, and many other legumes. Great to have ready in the pantry, perhaps for making a couscous with chickpeas and eggplants, or microwave crunchy chickpeas. Or, by canning beans, to make a pasta and beans or a chili con carne in jar cooking.
I have already covered some recipes for making safe preserves, but I had never addressed the topic of classic preserves, both because it is a tricky subject, and because the long times did not fit with my philosophy in the kitchen. True, my experience with preserves concentrates on microwave jar cooking, but, as the name of my blog ‘From the Pan to the Jar’ suggests, I like to blend the tradition of our grandmothers’ kitchen with the need to cook more quickly, energy-efficiently, in a word, modern and in tune with the times. When I created the Multicooker book and the collection of Italian recipes with instant pot, I realized that this electric pressure cooker could also lead me to evolve in terms of preserves. In the aforementioned book, you will find 2 savory recipes in jar cooking, but after the book’s release, I continued to experiment, and also, I felt the need to stop buying pre-cooked legumes. Given the price, the salt they contain, the extensive use I make of them at home, and sustainability, I thought that making homemade legume preserves offers significant advantages.
I want to share a tip, in the recipe, you will find out how to soak dried legumes in an hour. Very useful when you forget to soak them the day before. Let me know what you think and if you’ll try it. Then, if you want to learn to cook energy-efficiently, reducing waste in the kitchen, eating healthy, you’re in the right place. Follow me, you’ll find me on all social media channels under the name ‘From the Pan to the Jar’ by Rosella Errante.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 1 Day 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Instant pot
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 171.50 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 23.45 (g) of which sugars 1.85 (g)
- Proteins 10.45 (g)
- Fat 3.15 (g) of which saturated 0.43 (g)of which unsaturated 2.67 (g)
- Fibers 6.80 (g)
- Sodium 255.24 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 4 jars of legumes
- 14.1 oz dried chickpeas (or beans or lentils)
- 8.5 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
What you need for legume canning
- 1 multicooker or electric pressure cooker
- 4 Jars 500 ml with screw cap
- 1 Canning funnel
- 1 Tea cloth
Procedure
Soak the chickpeas or beans, drain them, and distribute them in the pot. Pour in the 8.5 cups of water and close the pot with its lid. Close the valve and program the cooking for 20 minutes with the pressure function. At the end of cooking, let the pot rest closed for 10 minutes and then depressurize by opening the valve. Add the salt and mix well.
Meanwhile, sterilize the jars and check that the capsules (lids) are intact and clean. I recommend using new lids if you plan to store them for a long time.
With the help of the funnel and a ladle, distribute the legumes in the jars along with their liquid. Check that the rims have not been soiled and, if necessary, dry them before closing them well.
Place the jars in the pot, arrange a tea cloth between them, so that during boiling they do not hit each other, and then pour in the water that should cover 3/4 of the jars.
Close the pot again and start cooking for 15 minutes with the pressure function. At the end of cooking, let the pot rest closed for 2 hours. During the rest, the jars will depressurize. You can verify the vacuum seal by touching the capsule, which will no longer click.
While chickpeas and beans need soaking and 20 minutes of cooking, lentils, dried fava beans, cicerchia, and dried peas do not. So you just need to cook for 12 minutes with the pressure function and then distribute in the jars and proceed as in the chickpea procedure.
Consider that cooking continues in the jars, and unless you want a legume puree in a jar, it’s good to reduce cooking times.
Pour the legumes into a glass bowl and cover them with 8.5 cups of room temperature water. Cover the bowl with a piece of microwave film. Place the bowl in the microwave and start for about 9 minutes at 700 watts. Follow the cooking closely, because as soon as the film swells, you can turn off and let the legumes sit for 45 minutes. During the rest, the legumes will double in volume. Now, you can use them to make jarred legume preserves.
When the legume preserves are at room temperature, you can store them in the pantry, in a cool, dark place for 6 months.
Tips from ‘From the Pan to the Jar’
How to cook legumes in an electric pressure cooker for canning is easy and safe. You can choose which legume to use, the important things to do are 3:
1) use new, intact, and clean capsules
2) avoid thermal excursions to the glass, protecting the jars during cooking.
3) Keep the temperature of the preserves stable, avoiding too hot places. During storage, check the vacuum seal of the jars by pressing the cap in the center.
White Cooking of Legumes
The method you find in this recipe is the white cooking of legumes, this will allow you to use them for many recipes, even cold.
How to Store Legume Soups
Alternatively, you can prepare delicious legume soups and then store them in jars, following the same procedure, so you will have legume soups ready to be enjoyed.
