Leather Britches

My friend Bertie reminded me about stringing green beans to make leather britches...it was the old timer way of preserving beans before there were things like freezers and pressure cookers to extend the life of garden harvests.  So after visiting with her, I decided to give it a try.  It's simple...just thread a needle and poke it through clean beans like you are stringing popcorn...I did read you should cut the end stem end off the beans and let them drain a bit, but Bertie told me that wasn't necessary...

...they look pretty, don't they?

They will dry during the winter and end up looking like shriveled up brown sticks...when ready to eat them, boil them in a pot of water and discard the first water (this removes the bitterness), then boil again with an onion and a ham bone...makes for a good winter side dish, can't wait to try it.

I like trying different ways of preserving things...I've frozen beans (both blanched and fresh off the vine to see which turns out better), and need to get a pressure gauge for my pressure canner so I can try canning.  I should still be able to harvest enough beans to get at least a few quarts of beans canned.  But I'm curious, have any of you canned beans using a water bath...Bertie says when she was young they canned things in a wash (Bertie pronounced it warsh) tub over a fire in the back yard and they all survived!  Anyone familiar with a similar method that works?

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise