Drying Green Beans otherwise known as…

LEATHER BRITCHES…have you ever!!!

Did you ever wonder where it got its name?
Leather Britches Beans or 'Shucky Beans' refers to an antique technique of preserving beans that was closely associated with the American South and particularly the Appalachian region.  Prior to the widespread use of freezing or canning beans were preserved by stringing them on a length of thin twine and then air-drying them over several weeks.  Beans were picked at a stage when the seeds were well developed but the outer hull remained green.  Leather Britches beans were re-hydrated and cooked very slowly in an excess of water containing a wedge of bacon or ham.

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Here is my tutorial for making them for display in your home.
I notice they are being talked about on forums and blogs with Fall approaching.

I made a small garland of them last year and have them hanging on the back of a pie safe.
This was my first attempt at making them so the garland is rather small…being I never made them I didn’t know how to judge how long to make the string to start with.  I also used Cranberries on mine.

Today I started a new one so here’s the steps that I do.

I bought 3 lbs of Green Beans at the farmer’s market
(I have enough left to make 2 more
clusters of beans on the next one I make)
Frozen Cranberries – fresh ones are not in season yet.
(Look in the vegetable section of the frozen foods isle)
USE THE CRANBERRIES 'FROZEN'...DO NOT THAW THEM
they will turn mushy and squish if you do.
If you do this when 'fresh' Cranberries are available
they are perfect to use that way as they are 'hard'.

First make sure the stems are off but the
pointed tip is perfect to leave on.
Take a large darning needle and thread it with white
store string - Kite string will do fine.
(I started out this new one with a 60” length of string)

Make a couple of knots right on top of each other –
hope you can see it in this picture.
Then with the string that’s left make a loop and knot it so you have something to hang the garland with – when you are finished you will just make a temporary loop until they are totally dried, then you will knot and loop same as the beginning loop.

Thread your beans on the string, sticking the needle through the middle of each bean – not straight down the center of the bean,  just through the center, so both ends of the bean are loose – try not to put the needle through a bean…they tend to be wet and will seep liquid and take longer to dry.
 
 
(Hopefully you can see the size of the needle)

Pierce the Green Bean and slide it all the way to the end
where you have the knots/loop…repeat.
I used 10 Green Beans then 10 Cranberries…
repeated until I got the string filled.

 

Be careful what you lay your Cranberries on to work with…
they tend to bleed when thawing and pierced.
 

 

 

Find a place to hang them to dry.
(our basement was the best) – they like it dry.
Remember at the beginning the Cranberries may drip a bit.

I’m showing you this picture because this is how the
Cranberries got smaller by loosing moisture,
See the space already and this was only about 1/2 hour later.

And this was about an hour after stringing.
Look at how far down I moved the clusters.
As they dry move the clusters of beans and cranberries closer together.
When totally dry then make the loop at the end.

 

I hope I made this clear…it’s really easy to do
but sometimes being shown makes it clearer.
Enjoy…let me see your creations when you make them…please!

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This morning we went to a rummage sale…AGAIN!
I think I see a pattern happening here!!
I saw something on one of the tables and thought it was
a twin bedspread – but upon opening it up I found
it was a shower curtain and window curtains.
Now I didn’t need a new one for our upper bath
but what we had in there was all white and these had the
Yellow/Blue/Reds in it like the small accents in our guest bath.
Now this bathroom is different than the rest of the house –
it’s rather ‘fun’ but I won’t ever change it because
I need something different in at least one room of the house –
I don’t care for dark bathrooms.
So this one is a beach theme and I like it even more now
because the new items spark it up a lot.

Here’s the older shower curtain/window – nice but a lot of white.

And now….a bit of color

Is it a keeper

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I forgot I bought this a couple weeks ago
It is an old Green etched jar – now I know there
was a top to it at one time but I’ve been looking at
different places and can’t seem to find one for it.
I tried to get a good picture so you can see the etching.
Not sure what I’m going to use it for but liked the green.
AND…if you know anything about this type of jar let me know!

 

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Last week I made two candle mats for Fall
They are for sale if anyone wants one.
….These will be the last items I make….

Pumpkin Tab Candle Mat
12 inches round
Tabs are 3-1/2 inches across
2 different style Pumpkins
Made from all Wool on Army Blanket Wool
$30.00
(includes shipping)

Pennies Tab Candle Mat
12 inches round
Tabs are 3-1/2 inches across
Made from all Wool on Army Blanket Wool
$30.00
(includes shipping)
 

Thanks for visiting with me today…hope to see you again!

Karen