Yellow beans are tricky. They tend to curve, you see.

Green beans? Much straighter. And canning — good canning at least — requires straight beans.

So Rod Zeitler buys in bulk from an Amish guy down in Kalona. More beans, better odds of straightness.

But even then, Zeitler primps: Nooks? Crannies? Gone. Discolored? Absolutely not. Those ones get chopped up and canned for home use only.

For the jars he enters in the Iowa State Fair, he cuts every stalk to exactly 4 inches, their edges uniform and sharp like a dagger’s blade. One jar requires 45 beans, and he makes at least three jars at a time — backups in case a seal breaks or, well, he just doesn’t like the looks of a particular can.

Carrots? He wants big, even slices, with the stratification of a Redwood tree ring. He’ll place ev

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