It can be used as soup base. But do keep in mind that the beans need to be sloshy/ freely moving in the jars before processing or they will turn to a solid hard mass after processing if there isn't enough liquid in the jars. So save it and add some of it to each jar when filling. The processing itself forces the beans to absorb more liquid so if the jars lack sufficient liquid to begin with you won't care for the end result.

Dave

Thanks, that's what I planned on doing. I just had a lot more than I'll need to top off the jars, if I need to do that. I was careful about not putting too many beans in the first batch and having a lot of liquid, and I will do the same for the baked beans version. I just didn't know if the leftover bean liquid would be suitable for anything else. Thanks again.

I know this would be way late but I was thinking leftover bean juice would be suitable for putting in a crockpot with ham. I don't care for baked beans myself but like the flavor they bring to certain dishes and my guys love them. I would use the sauce/juice like that or as a condiment of some kind. Maybe even the base for another type of soup. Lori

I canned several jars of the leftover liquid when I canned the beans. I intended to use it as a soup base, but I have yet to use any of those jars. The beans, however, were a great success and turned out delicious. Very happy with them. After canning baked beans and several sauce versions of plain beans, I came to the conclusion to can it all plain and season as desired when opening.

I am wondering if I could use an assortment of beans for this recipe. I was a member of the Rancho Gordo bean club for a year, and received more beans than I needed. Some are brown heirloom varieties, some white and black -all kinds of beans. What confuses me about this recipe, though, is that it makes no mention of how much liquid is needed in these jars. I think I know the consistency of what the baked product would be. But it does not say how much beans, and how much molasses liquid should be in each jar. I can see myself ruining 7 quarts of beans if I were to try this. One thing that seems to be missing from this nchfp recipe is tomato sauce or puree.

Or, should I just try to can them plain?

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/beans_baked.html

Here's the link for canning the beans (not the baked beans recipe) and includes 3 different sauces. I did not care for sauce #1 or #3 (the molasses sauce). My preference was for the sauce #2, which was catsup based or just plain. Your taste may be different. For the jars that had the sauces I didn't like, I ended up rinsing the sauce off after opening the jars and then seasoning them as desired. I didn't actually care for the baked beans recipe, either, and rinsed them off as well and made my own baked bean sauce after opening. I don't see any reason the different beans couldn't be mixed. As for how much liquid, just fill the jar with the beans according to directions and then add the liquid. Be very conservative with the amount of beans as they will swell and absorb liquid.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/beans_tomato_molasses.html

Yeah baked beans are different than canned beans or the average pork & beans with tomato sauce. Those instructions pqtex linked above. Yes you can mix varieties of beans as long as the resulting flavor is ok with you. As for amount of liquid for the Baked Beans recipe - the liquid isn't really relevant. Since they bake so long first there is minimal liquid left to include. For the regular beans canning the amount of liquid is pretty clear - 3/4 full of hot beans and the rest is liquid.

We like all 3 versions but they are quite different from each other. #1 and 2 versions are most like Van deKamps Pork and Beans. The molasses version 2 makes them more like the Bush's varieties.

Dave