149 little purple hats – 146 from one bolt of fleece and 3 were from left over purple fleece. They are done and waiting for me to find a box to put them up until Sept. It feels so good to have things done with time to spare.
Then I finished a fun little wall hanging I was testing and sent in the report. I’ll have to show you that one in November.
The afternoon was spent playing with this. It takes 75 minutes to process a load of pints with beans after pressure is reached, about 45 minutes for it to cool down and then one must bring it back up to pressure and keep it there for another 75 minutes. Therefore 2 loads of beans takes about 4 hours. And I have to be there since the pressure changes “for no reason”. The stove is electric and doesn’t want to be constant. This time I soaked the beans for 24 hours, packed them in the jars without any cooking. It was so much easier, but next time I will put fewer beans in the jars and still fill them with water. I wonder if I could put salt in them or if that would keep them from getting soft. The top beans do seem a bit dry which is why I will try more liquid and a smidge fewer beans.
20 pints of red beans
I was taught that it is acid content that makes legumes tough, not salt. Here are some links that explain the relationship of salt, age, and acidity:
https://christopherkimball.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/cooking-beans-101/
http://www.thekitchn.com/think-salt-is-the-enemy-of-perfect-beans-think-again-196470
OH, Thank you – that was so interesting. Mom always told us that salt in the water wouldn’t allow the beans to get soft. Now I will try them with the salt. I like a bit of salt in the cooked beans.