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To Can Green Beans, Peas, Asparagus and Carrots

A method for canning green beans, peas, asparagus, and carrots in jars with salt and bicarbonate of soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Green beans and peas share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 54 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

To Can Green Beans, Peas, Asparagus and Carrots

Ingredients

Directions

Blanch the vegetables

  1. Place the vegetables in a wire basket and plunge into boiling water for 20 seconds.

  2. Add the bicarbonate of soda to the boiling water.

  3. Quickly transfer the vegetables to cold water for a few moments and drain.

Pack and boil

  1. Fill jars with the vegetables, leaving about 1 inch from the top.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to each jar.

  3. Stand the jars on a rack in a boiler and surround with cold water halfway.

  4. Cover the boiler and boil for 1 hour.

  5. Screw the lids down tightly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Green beans + peastop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together54 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Peas + asparagustop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together808 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Green beans + asparagustop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together18 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Asparagus + carrottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together571 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Peas + carrottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,994 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bicarbonate of soda
Raises the water's pH, helping the vegetables keep a bright green colour.

The step that matters

Adding the bicarbonate of soda. Only a large bean-sized piece is called for. Too much alkali can soften the vegetables excessively and leave a soapy taste, while the small amount helps preserve colour during blanching.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (green beans, peas, asparagus):

  1. Cauliflowerfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against green beans, peas, asparagus. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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