leather britches

[sidelock]

My Grandma used to air dry green beans in the shell on strings of white thread by using a sewing needle through them and hanging them out of the sun on the porch to dry. The beans would turn golden brown and when rehydrated and cooked in the winter were super good. She called them leather britches. Anyone else had these?

 

[coloradoclyde]

No! but I saw a video about them.....so I decided to dry some pole beans in the dehydrator this year and see how they tasted......haven't tried them yet though....
I have squash in the dehydrator as we speak.... :grin:


P.S. I can't find the original video I saw.....but there are several videos on youtube....

I bet that's why they're called string beans....

 

[George]

Yes, my paternal Grandmother made and cooked them in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Spence

 

[Claude Mathis]

[youtube]pE9fHgrEzQQ[/youtube]

 

[Alden]

Yea, hanging them in a breeze and maybe even in the sun (the best disinfectant) itself would probably have been good too but taken a few days. A a blanket of cheesecloth around them to keep buggies out while they dry?

 

[sidelock]

Nope---- string beans don't mean "on a string". Don't know your age but you must be too young to remember having to break the end off the bean and remove the string along one side before cooking or you were picking STRINGS out of your teeth. Now we have beans without strings. Ladies would gather from the neighborhood on big canning days and have a "BEAN BREAKING" and talk "LADY STUFF".

 

[sidelock]

Thanks Claude. The vid. started out right but my Gram's didn't spoil. I suspect the young lady used beans that were not mature enough which spoiled. BUT I don't know. Sure wish I did know how to do it. Gram never stored hers in jars. Left them in strings till used.

 

[George]

Sure wish I did know how to do it. Gram never stored hers in jars. Left them in strings till used.

sidelock, here's a link...not too good... that might be helpful. It's the hillbilly method as explained by a hillbilly, and I think it will work.

I did some searching, and what I concluded is that they used whole beans, selecting those without blemishes or damage, didn't break them, but took off both tips and the strings, just as though you were going to cook them. They then strung them on a string, hung them up in the attic, rafters or on the porch until well dried, maybe 6-8 months. The night before cooking they put them in water to soak, then drained off that water and cooked them the way our country folks always cooked any kind of green beens, with some bacon or other pork fat and some salt, boiled them gently for a long time until completely tender. I think this is about the way my grandmother did it.
They are also called shuck beans or shuckie beans, that might help in searching for a good demo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yd_yCLz3T0

Spence

 

[sidelock]

Thanks Spence. I also googled Mother Earth News and found a lot of info. Looks to me that the most likely reason for spoilage on the string was running the needle through a bean rather than the shell and using immature beans. Think i'll try'em next year.

 

[George]

It's a little late for fresh green beans in the groceries around here, but if I can find some I'm going to run a little experiment. I'll trim and string them in the regular way, but then stick them in the dehydrator until thoroughly dry. Cooked after a couple of weeks of hanging in the garage after that, they won't be the same, but should be close to what the old folks did.

Spence

 

[Claude Mathis]

Nope---- string beans don't mean "on a string". Don't know your age but you must be too young to remember having to break the end off the bean and remove the string along one side before cooking or you were picking STRINGS out of your teeth.

We still do this when buying fresh string beans.

 

[sidelock]

I grow Blue Lake bush beans which are stringless and BOY yum yum.