Step 1

Put dried beans in a pot. Add 1 1/2 litres (6 cups) of water. Boil 2 minutes, remove from heat and let stand for an hour, covered.

Step 2

Make your sauce flavouring mixture by mixing together everything from onion down to Kitchen Bouquet (if using) in a large microwave-safe bowl or jug; set aside.

Step 3

Drain the beans, discarding the soaking water.

Step 4

Put beans in a large pot, add 2 bay leaves, cover with 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inches) of water, bring to a full boil, boil for a minute or two, then turn off the heat. Don't boil much longer or you will end up with mooshy beans at the end of everything.

Step 5

Drain the beans in a way that will preserve the water this time. (See suggestions in notes.) Discard the 2 bay leaves.

Step 6

Take 750 ml (3 cups / 24 oz ) of that reserved water. Add it to the sauce flavouring mixture you had set aside, cover that bowl or large jug and zap in microwave for 5 minutes to make a sauce.

Step 7

Take the sauce out of the microwave, stir (mind the surge). Set aside.

Step 8

The headspace on this recipe is 3 cm (1 inch) per jar. Bearing that in mind and taking that into account, fill each jar (minus that reserved headspace in your mind) 3/4 full of plain beans.

Step 9

Fill up the remaining 1/4 of each jar with sauce, leaving still the 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.

Step 10

At this point, the USDA notes that you may "add a 3/4-inch (2 cm) cube of pork, ham, or bacon to each jar, if desired."

Step 11

Add additional water to jars from the reserved bean stock if you run short on sauce.

Step 12

Debubble, then top up with a bit more sauce or bean stock as needed to maintain the 2 cm (1 inch) headspace.

Step 13

So to recap, a jar will 3 cm (1 inch) blank headspace at the top. Of the remaining jar space below that, 3/4 of that space will be plain beans, then 1/4 plain sauce.

Step 14

Debubble, adjust headspace.

Step 15

Wipe jar rims.

Step 16

Put lids on.

Step 17

Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet)

Step 18

Processing time: quarter-litre (1/2 US pint / 250 ml) OR half-litre (1 US pint): 65 minutes. 1 litre (1 US quart): 75 minutes.