Leather Britches/Shucky Beans

I shared this post with our friend, Cottonpicker, this morning and thought I would pass it along here. Some time ago I posted information about Leather Britches/Shucky Beans. It was a means of preserving in the mountains and rural areas years ago and the tradition lives on. Cottonpicker has roots from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
Gary

Shucky Beans or Leather Britches
Yes, those are the same shuck beans that are in the title of my first book, and they are also known as Leather Britches, I assume because the dried pod of the bean looks like the tanned-leather pants of early pioneers. I'm sure that the folks who lived next to you weren't simply from Tennessee, but specifically from the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee... or at least those mountains, at the southern end, are where the family hailed from. Shuck Beans are known only to folks from that area or with those roots and, as near as I can tell, not made anywhere else in the U.S. I always thought they were a combination of Cherokee drying traditions and "European" green beans, but discovered while researching my last book that they actually were made in Germany many centuries ago (getrocken bohne -- with some umlauts I don't know how to find on my word processor).

To make them, you can use any green bean that gets a nice, meaty seed in it; but what we preferred in the mountains is a white half-runner (or mountain half-runner) bean. The seeds for these are available at plenty of seed stores, but if you can't find them, contact Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, P.O. Box 170, Earlysville, VA 22936. Some folks also use Kentucky Wonder; or another pole bean would do.

Let the beans mature so the seeds are plump in the pod, but you don't want them to get so old that the pods are tough. You've seen the beans your friends from Tennessee picked, so you'll know when they're ready. The farm markets and produce stands here have lots of half-runner beans, so I just buy mine instead of raising them. You can do that, too. Again, look for a bean with a fresh, green, tender pod but fully formed beans inside.

One nice thing if you grow the beans yourself, you don't have to worry about pesticides or any chemicals on them, and when you get ready to "sew" them, you don't have to rinse and dry them first. But if you're buying them, you'll want to do that, time consuming though it is to towel dry the beans. Otherwise, if you string them up damp, they will rot.

You know what to do from there: break the ends gently and pull the strings off the beans (beans with strings really do taste better than the stringless varieties you find) and "sew" them onto sturdy lengths of thread. My aunt said never to run your needle through the bean itself or you'd never get the string out later, only sew through the pod. Hand them to dry in a place that's not humid. There's two camps to whether or not it should be a sunny spot, but I've dried in sun and shade and both are fine as long as the beans don't get damp. When they're good and dry (several days-weeks depending on the humidity where you are)

We used to store them in cleaned-up coffee cans with plastic lids or even paper bags. A lot of my cousins now put the dried beans in tight-sealing freezer bags in the freezer just to be sure they don't get infested with any bugs.

When you're ready to cook, you rinse them really well and set them in water to soak overnight, then simmer slow on the back of the stove with a piece of white bacon for seasoning for a few hours. Add salt when the beans are tender, not before and serve with cornbread.

You are absolutely right that the whole stringing/sewing ritual needs to take place on the front porch and must be accompanied by big glasses of iced tea. And it's so wonderful that you want to share this tradition with your children. My daughter loves her shuck beans, too!
Ronni Lundy
http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/boa...99/JUL/47.html

Instructions for drying Shucky Beans

String very full beans as you would for cooking, but do not break them.
Thread beans on twine, using just enough beans on each string for one or
two meals. Then drop them into a brine of ½ cup coarse salt and one gallon
of water for 15 minutes. Drain on newspaper. The brine will keep bugs
away from your beans. Hang the strings of beans on wire or rope in a dry
place for at least three weeks. Make sure they are completely dry or they
will mold.

Source: "Mountain Measures" -- Junior League of Charleston, WV
ed. 1974

Cooking Shucky/Leather Beans
Green Beans
Salt And Pepper
Lard Or Bacon Grease
Water
Prior to cooking the dried beans, pour lots of boiling water over the beans
and soak overnight. In the morning, wash the beans well and cover with
water in a pan. Cook for 2 hours; then add salt, lard or bacon grease, and
pepper. Finish cooking about 2 hours more, adding water as needed.
(You may want to season in a Heart/Healthy way)
Ronni Lundi wrote how her family's gathering around their kitchen table fostered her sense of identity:

It was around that table that I learned the lessons of my life, the stories that told me who I was and where I came from, the stories that led me to imagine where I might go... I took those stories in greedily, hungrily, and was nourished on them like they were a glass of cold sweet milk and a wedge of my mother's golden steaming fresh cornbread.
Ronni Lundy, "The Tao of Cornbread," in L. Elisabeth Beatt ie, ed., Savory Memories (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1998), 66.


Crafts for the Spirit: 30 Beautiful Projects to Enhance Your Personal Journey, 1st Edition
Ronni Lundy
Paperback / 144 Pages / Lark Books / October 2003 / 1579904122
List Price $19.95 / Similar to Crafts for the Spirit: 30 Beautiful...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


Shuck Bean, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken: The Heart and Soul of Southern Country Kitchens(Reissue)
Ronni Lundy
Paperback / Atlantic Monthly Pr / August 1994 / 0871136007
List Price $16.50 / Similar to Shuck Bean, Stack Cakes, and Honest...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken: The Heart and Soul of Southern Country Kitchens
Ronni Lundy
Hardcover / Atlantic Monthly Pr / November 1991 / 0871135175
List Price $24.95 / Similar to Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


In Praise of Tomatoes: Tasty Recipes, Garden Secrets, Legends & Lore, 1st Edition
Ronni Lundy, Barbara J. Ciletti, John Stehling
Hardcover / Lark Books / April 2004 / 1579904211
List Price $19.95 / Similar to In Praise of Tomatoes: Tasty Recipes,...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


In Praise of Tomatoes: Tasty Recipes, Garden Secrets, Legends & Lore
Ronni Lundy, John Stehling
Paperback / 176 Pages / Lark Books / August 2006 / 1579909582
List Price $14.95 / Similar to In Praise of Tomatoes: Tasty Recipes,...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


Butter Beans to Blackberries: Recipes from the Southern Garden
Ronni Lundy
Hardcover / North Point Pr / May 1999 / 0865475474
List Price $30.00 / Similar to Butter Beans to Blackberries: Recipes...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


Butter Beans to Blackberries: Recipes from the Southern Garden(Reprint)
Ronni Lundy
Paperback / North Point Pr / May 2003 / 0865475881
List Price $16.00 / Similar to Butter Beans to Blackberries: Recipes...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


Festive Table: Stories and Recipes for Renewing Celebrations
Ronni Lundy
Hardcover / North Point Pr / October 1995 / 0374249024
List Price $25.00 / Similar to Festive Table: Stories and Recipes for...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


Savory Memories(Illustrated)
Linda Beattie, Jim Wayne Miller, Elisabeth Watts Beattie (Illustrator), Ronni Lundy (Other)
Hardcover / 166 Pages / Univ Pr of Kentucky / March 1998 / 0813120462
List Price $19.95 / Similar to Savory Memories
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details


Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South
Ronnie Lundi (Editor)
Paperback / 266 Pages / Univ of North Carolina Pr / October 2005 / 0807856568
List Price $17.95 / Similar to Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the...
Compare Prices Add to Wish List Book Details