Boston Baked Beans

  Beans are easy to process.  Baked Beans take a bit more time to prepare for canning but, worth the wait.  Please see my "yield note" below - since you are baking the beans 3 1/2 hours - why not heed my dried bean advice so that you get a full 6 pint yield?  ~Enjoy! Diane  

Ingredients: 
1 Pound of navy beans (any small beans up to kidney beans work well)
2 teaspoons salt  
1/2 pound of salt pork or bacon, cut up into 1/2 inch pieces 
3 large onions, chopped into 1/4 inch slices
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses

Directions: 
Rinse the dried beans under cold running water, Add beans to at least a 6 quart pot. 

Add water to cover the beans by 2 inches. Bring pot to a boil, boil 2 minutes, then remove from heat and let soak for one hour. Drain. Return beans to pot and add fresh water to cover by 2 inches again. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer (at 180 degrees) until skins start to split. Drain the beans and save the cooking water. Place beans in large baking dish. I use my large 7.25 quart dutch oven or my large, tall-sided 9x13 baking dish. 

Measure your cooking water - add enough additional water to make 4 cups total. 

Mix the onions, sugar, molasses, mustard powder and salt; add to the chopped onions and bacon with 1 cup of the cooking water. Mix into the beans.  I then whisk in 2 more cups of the cooking water and reserve 1 cup to stir in during baking time, if needed.  You want the entire bean mixture to remain 'soupy' when cooking in the oven.  

Bake at 350 for about 3 and 1/2 hours with the lid on the pan or covered with foil. Check the bean mixture once an hour to stir,  and add water if needed. 

Prepare your pressure canner for canning. 

Ladle hot beans and sauce into jars, leaving 1-inch head-space. Remove air bubbles. Add new lid and process in Pressure Canner at the proper psi for your altitude and canner type.
Pints: 1 Hour 20 minutes
Quarts: 1 hour 35 minutes. 

**Yield Note: Beans are often a guesstimate in yield because of their varying sizes.  (I used exactly 1 pound of dried navy beans which my total yield was 4.5 pints.)  
The 'rule' on beans is:  "It takes  1/2 cup of dried beans to make a pint of cooked beans" the next time I can this recipe I will measure out 3 cups of dried beans so that my yield is 6 full pints. 
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Recipe by: Ball Blue Book (edition 37) 
Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home