Leatherbritches

dvrmte

Major
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Location
South Carolina
I don't know that leatherbritches made it into the camps but they were definitely used back home especially in the mountain areas.

Leatherbritches are dried green beans. Beans are picked when still tender and the seeds are immature. Pods had the tips and strings removed and using needle and thread were pierced by the needle and strung on the thread. Then they usually were hung on the porches or attic to dry.
256px-French_beans_J1.jpg
French beans J1
Jamain [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


To cook, the beans were unstrung from the thread and soaked overnight in water, then drained and washed once more.

Put the beans in a suitable pot for boiling. Slow cook for several hours adding water as necessary. Add salt and some type of preserved pork.(hog jowl, ham hock, salt pork, etc.) Cook for several more hours adding water as necessary.

They have an unusual strong flavor that is either loved or hated. I hated them as a kid but can't get enough of them now. Some mix dried beans with the leatherbritches to dilute the strong flavor some.
 
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Some people call them "shucky beans" but I've never heard it personally. Here's an image of the beans broken up ready to soak overnight.

shucky%2Bbeans.jpg
 
That's a wonderful picture! :D Thanks so much for the blast from the past - Granny always had leatherbritches and a whole bunch of other things hanging along the back porch or over the living room wood stove. (There was a very interesting but not offensive smell to the back porch, by the way.) They would cook forever - sometimes stay leather! - and they are a very distinctive dish. Don't expect them to taste like green beans!

If the troops used them, they would be mostly Southerners, wouldn't they? Did Northerners do leatherbritches, too?
 
I don't know that leatherbritches made it into the camps but they were definitely used back home especially in the mountain areas.

Leatherbritches are dried green beans. Beans are picked when still tender and the seeds are immature. Pods had the tips and strings removed and using needle and thread were pierced by the needle and strung on the thread. Then they usually were hung on the porches or attic to dry.


To cook, the beans were unstrung from the thread and soaked overnight in water, then drained and washed once more.

Put the beans in a suitable pot for boiling. Slow cook for several hours adding water as necessary. Add salt and some type of preserved pork.(hog jowl, ham hock, salt pork, etc.) Cook for several more hours adding water as necessary.

They have an unusual strong flavor that is either loved or hated. I hated them as a kid but can't get enough of them now. Some mix dried beans with the leatherbritches to dilute the strong flavor some.
Very cool, I never heard of them but it immediately reminded me of Mexican Ristras, strings of chile peppers seen in the Southwest.
ristra.jpg
 
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That's a wonderful picture! :D Thanks so much for the blast from the past - Granny always had leatherbritches and a whole bunch of other things hanging along the back porch or over the living room wood stove. (There was a very interesting but not offensive smell to the back porch, by the way.) They would cook forever - sometimes stay leather! - and they are a very distinctive dish. Don't expect them to taste like green beans!

If the troops used them, they would be mostly Southerners, wouldn't they? Did Northerners do leatherbritches, too?

My relatives and in-laws from the mountains of GA, NC and SC all made leatherbritches. They used "greasy" beans for the most part. They differ from regular pole beans in that the pods lack the slight fuzziness on the outside of the pods and have a shiny appearance, thus the greasy appearance. The seed in the pod will be almost mature but the pod is still tender. They have strings so there only grown for home use and local farm markets, where they fetch as much as $7.00 lb. at the Ashville, NC Farmers Market. Bill Best is the expert on greasy beans and he says they came from the Cherokee Indians. They still grow them on the reservation in NC. I'm not sure Mr. Best is correct because they aren't grown at the Oklahoma reservation. The did carry bean seeds there on the Trail of Tears but they weren't greasys.

Here's a photo of greasy beans at the farmers market. I'll post some other photos of the ones I grow when I get a chance.

Expired Image Removed

I would imagine any troops from the Appalachian mountains or serving there, would've had access to leatherbritches.
 
I just found a children's book that has "Leather Britches" in it. That way the author spells the word. The book is "Hasty Pudding, Johnnycakes, and Other Good Stuff", Cooking in Colonial America, by Loretta Frances Ichord.

The author states that "Leather Britches is the nickname the colonists used for dried stringbeans because they resembled men's pants hanging from a line." She gives a recipe and the equipment needed to make them.
 
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