Exactly How Much is a Bushel?

This is 3/4 of a bushel.

With COVID, I may be turning into a hoarder. Okay, any time that I watch the news I declare that we need to buy an entire cow to stock the freezers and I have an uncontrollable urge to can any food that is in my kitchen.

Every year, I buy at least 40 pounds of tomatoes from the farmer’s market to can. Last year, I canned 80 pounds, which turned out to be quite a lot of tomatoes. Each fall, I visit the same women in the back corner of the local farmer’s market. They have a notebook where I write down my name, phone number, and what produce I want to order in bulk.

This year, my husband and I ventured to the farmer’s market with our masks on and I went to place my order. Overwhelmed with the crowd and mask, my husband decided to wait outside the market. I placed my order for tomatoes as usual, but then I think I blacked out (okay, not really). I saw that other people were ordering half bushels of green beans. Not to be outdone, I ordered an entire bushel of green beans. I walked away beaming with pride that I would have plenty of green beans.

Then I met back up with my husband. I declared that I had managed to pre-order a hoarder’s quantity of green beans. He was shocked that I would order a bushel and asked me if I knew how many green beans were in a bushel. I responded that I did not. I also did not ask how much a bushel of green beans would cost. Details, details…
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It turns out, a bushel is 40 pounds of green beans. My household consists of two people. Forty pounds of green beans is a massive amount. Also, I spent $80 on green beans, which is a pretty considerable amount for produce.

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Once I picked up the 40 pounds of green beans, I panicked. I posted on Facebook that I had green beans for sale! A friend graciously took 10 pounds off my hands. I then canned the remaining 30 pounds. I made about 28 pints and 7 quarts of green beans. I followed the advice of the women from the farmer’s market and canned it with just water and salt.

Honestly, the green beans are delicious. They are thick and meaty. We are eating at least one jar a week and we are not sick of it at all.
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Maybe I will order a bushel and a half next year!

How to Can Green Beans

To can green beans, follow my instructions on how to can found here: https://www.kettleandcanyon.com/blog/canning-101

To prep the beans, wash the beans, cut off the ends, and cut the beans into your desired length. Place the beans in the jar and add boiling water. I used ½ teaspoon of salt per pint and 1 teaspoon of salt per quart. At my elevation, I processed the means at 15 psi for 20 minute for pints and 25 for quarts.

Happy canning!