In the fall, just before it starts getting really cold, those green beans tend to go nuts one last time. They had a great run in the heat of summer then they putter out for a while but they like to go out with a bang at the end. When I plan it right, I have tons of beans in the fall. And truth be told, this year isn’t actually that year. I do have them steadily rolling in but it’s definitely shy of being a bumper crop.

My family loves green beans and we grow a few different varieties. I ALWAYS grow Purple Podded Pole Beans (try saying that fast a few times) and this year we also grew Thai Soldier Beans. This year the Thai Soldier Beans was more of an after thought. I just squeezed a few into a spot I had available. They really ran with that spot and are producing more than I thought I’d get.

In addition to canning green beans and freezing green beans and fermenting green beans,  I like to DEHYDRATE green beans! They take up less space that way and are lighter, easier to store and I don’t have to worry about losing them in the freezer if the power were to go out. I have a run-of-the-mill dehydrator that I use regularly in the summer to dehydrate all kinds of things. And yes, I do have a fancy 9 tray Excalibur dehydrator siting in my wish list… one day… But sometimes you gotta go back to the “good ole days.” Long before modern day canning was a “thing” (which really didn’t take off until the late 1800s early 1900s) people dehydrated and fermented a lot of their food. Dehydration doesn’t have to require fancy machines. In fact, they don’t need much at all!

Have you heard the term Leather Britches? It’s the Appalachian method of air drying your garden beans. You simply use a needle and thread to string them similar to stringing popcorn garland.

How to make Leather Britches 

What you will need:

Sturdy string or unwaxed dentil floss pieces cut to 2 or 3 foot 

Large sewing needle 

And a whole pile of green beens

Steps:

-Wash up those beans and dry them on a towel. (Can I just take a moment to tell you guys how much I’m loving the Turkish towels?! Seriously they are amazing!)

-Pick out any with bug nibbles or bad spots.

-Snap the ends of the beans (specifically the blossom end but I always snap both ends). 

-Remove any strings from the beans.

-Break the beans either in half or, if you have a long bean variety, break into pieces about 2-3 inches long. I often have help from little ones in my house and they don’t always end up in the uniform sizes I would do if I was doing it by myself but it’s important to let them help. So I will cherish the too big and too small pieces for now. 

Now for the fun part! The stringin’

-Thread your needle and tie a knot at the end of the thread. (If you’re concerned that your thread might not be strong enough, double the thread over)

-String that first bean on and wrap it and tie it off well. You want to make sure that the whole string of beans stays on the thread and doesn’t slip off.

-Now you just get to stringing! 

-Once you’ve gotten all the beans that you can fit on a thread, leave room to tie it off. I make a loop so that I can hang it.

The goal is to have one string contain about the amount you would want to use for one meal. If you have a large family, you’ll need multiple strings for sure.
To hang these, you will want them in a dark dry place and don’t squeeze them together. You want air flow around the beans or they will mold. A closet or a pantry works fine. It takes a few weeks or so to dry out and can last a year or so dried.

Cook em up!

Now that you’ve got your leather britches strung and dried, how do you prepare them?

Pull them off the string and soak them overnight. The next day you will cook them for several hours low and slow, traditionally with pork (ham hock, fat back, whatever you want) You also can skip that and do in a veggie stock if you want a vegetarian option. The best part is, they don’t get mushy like green beans can get from over cooking. They maintain a nice chewy texture. 

These beans go by the name Leather Britches but also have been called Shucky beans depending on where you come from. Either way, they are delicious and easy so we are going to continue to add them to our food storage.

Get out to that garden, grab those beens, and get to stringin!

Happy Homesteading!