I have a glut of beans
What, that? That’s not a glut of beans, that’s a serving for my dinner tonight. No, Uncle B has a whole raised bed of beans that’s likely to bean up before Winter. (He planted it to fix nitrogen in the soil. Very scientifical, these badgers).
I’m thinking of drying them. Have you ever? Brave AI tells me dried green beans are called ‘leather britches’ in the South. As a Southerner, I’m astonished. I know Leather Britches as a banjo and fiddle tune. I always thought it referred to something exciting like a blacksmith’s pants.
I might’ve known it would be beans.
The recipes agree that they need to be blanched for 5 minutes, but they differ on how to dry them. Some expect you to leave them on racks for weeks, but I have neither the space nor the climate for that. I think it will have to be a job for the dehydrator.
They call them French beans here and nobody knows why.
Posted: August 27th, 2024 under personal.
Comments: 7
Comments
Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: August 27, 2024, 8:18 pm
Is your soil nitrogen broken?
Come on, you had to know someone (me) would go for the low hanging fruit.
French beans? Probably brought over by that 1060’s band from Normandy, William and the Conquerors.
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: August 27, 2024, 8:30 pm
Do the French call ’em Limey beans? 🙄
Comment from Deborah HH
Time: August 27, 2024, 9:00 pm
My family never let the green bean pods get big enough to remove the beans. They were picked while still small and thin and the beans were about the size of sesame seeds. My grandmother wanted them cut “French-style” which meant along the length of the pod, not across the pod. But who knows if that was authentically French!
We shelled black-eyed peas (my thumbs just started aching), and included some snaps.
Comment from Surly Ermine
Time: August 27, 2024, 9:06 pm
I recall Mom mentioning leather britches. She’s moderately southern, WV. She’s never made them since I’ve been around though.
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: August 27, 2024, 10:05 pm
Being of Yankee origin, I had never heard of Leather Britches (in green bean context) until today. When I think of Leather Britches, I think of Jim Morrison; The Lizard King.
Well, okay then. Another piece of useless information that will no doubt get me into no end of trouble at a cocktail party – like my reference to “The Donner Dinner Party” did last time.
Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: August 27, 2024, 11:03 pm
Heard in a restaurant once.
“Donner party of 10, your table is ready”.
The joke wasn’t completely wasted, just mostly.
Comment from Mark Matis
Time: August 28, 2024, 7:10 pm
Surely you will make some dilly beans before destroying the rest?
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