Chili is a favorite at our house and we have many ways to eat it. I agree about seasoning from scratch. I'm not big on spicy foods and sometimes I want my chili to be milder. Home canned tomatoes do make wonderful chili. A few plants and come August or so and you're covered up in tomatoes. Canning them is a wonderful way to enjoy the homegrown flavor in winter.

Why is open kettle canning no longer recommended?
"In open kettle canning, food is cooked, then packed into hot jars and sealed without processing. The temperatures reached in this type of canning are not high enough to destroy all spoilage and food poisoning organisms that may be in the food. Also, when food is transferred from the kettle to the jar, microorganisms can enter the food and cause spoilage."
Source: University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Why Tomatoes Are No Longer Considered a High-Acid Food
"Even if you have a time-tested recipe used in your family for generations, it won’t hurt to check out the latest information. For example, for many years tomatoes were treated as a high-acid food, and guidelines for canning often recommended processing at lower temperatures than low-acid foods require. However, new varieties, over-mature tomatoes, and tomatoes harvested from dead vines might have a pH value higher than 4.6, putting them in the riskier low-acid food category. So, today’s guidelines recommend increasing the acidity of tomatoes to be canned by adding 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice or a half-teaspoon of citric acid per quart. This can affect the taste, so you might want to add sugar, as well. The center particularly warns about recipes passed down through the years or found in older cookbooks that do not include instructions for processing. Sometimes those foods are canned by the 'open kettle' method -- that is, cooked in an ordinary pot, then packed into hot jars and sealed without processing. Scientists warn that foods, especially low-acid foods, canned this way present a serious health risk. All low-acid foods should be processed in a pressure canner. High-acid foods can be processed either in a water bath canner or pressure canner."
Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation

YUM! We like chili often in the colder months, but don't like it too spicy either. Using a seasoning packet is out due to the frightening perservatives and MSG frequently included, so we use our own seasonings too. Of course canned tomatoes are a must for good, quick chili and I freeze de-cobbed (is that a word?) corn in the summer months in large bags and we always toss a lot into our chili. I sometime throw in vegetarian burger crumbles, but more often than not, we use TVP--high protein, low cost, and quick.
Soaking your own beans is certainly cheaper, but does take a while. Our stove is gas and costs a lot to run, so I use my HUGE crockpot to soak and cook dried beans in (electric is quite cheap in my small village). We like navy beans, pinto beans, small red beans, and great Northern beans in our chili.
I like to add a touch of molasses to our chili to offset the acidity like someone else mentioned. I serve it in bread bowls made with semolina flour, then we top it with tofu sour cream and shredded cheddar.
I will definitely be using the tip to freeze the soaked beans! What a great idea!

Thanks for clarifying Tammy, I realized that the way I typed it sounded wrong. I promise to freeze only COOKED beans!

When cooking my beans in the crockpot, I have 2 methods. The first is when I've soaked them overnight, then drained them and added them to the crockpot with 3-4 inches of water on top. I then cook them on low for 6 hours, or high for 4.
The second method is when I have forgotten to soak them, so I put them in the crockpot early in the morning (6am), cover with water and cook on low for 8-10. I don't drain and use new water, but I do add a small piece of Kombu. It speeds the cooking time, softens the beans, thickens the broth, and makes them much more digestible to folks who have trouble with gas.
I never cook beans in the soaking water, I always rinse and use fresh water for cooking.

I do, however use one of the newer crockpots (5 years), and the cooking times need to be adjusted for the older ones. My old crockpot needed 10-12 hours to cook unsoaked beans.

Whenever I prepare celery and bell peppers for a "raw vegetable platter" (which we enjoy at meals or for snacking) I keep those odd little pieces that don't look so nice on the platter, or are too small, in a freezer container. They're great for adding to chili--and it's less to chop on chili-making day.

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While we have time, let us do good.

To make chili stretch I cook elbow macaroni and add it to the finished chili. I also make my own salsa and add it to help season our chili. Corn was mentioned earlier and it is delicious in chili. We really like it that way. I also add a little ketchup or tomato soup. I can my own tomatoes too!! It just seems to make the food taste so much better. After all my add ins I really don't know if you would still call it chili. :) We enjoy having this as leftovers. The chili seems more flavorful. We also enjoy bite sized corn muffins with our chili.
Blessings---Mrs. Johnson

When freezing cooked beans, do you drain them first, or freeze them with some liquid from cooking? if with water, how much water?
Thanks!
Kelli