Have you tried Leather Britches?

[Mitch]

As a boy, here in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, my grandmother used to have us make leather britches. Leather Britches are whole green beans strung by running a needle and heavy thread through the bean pod. About 50 or so beans were strung into a huge necklass looking thing and just hung on the wall to dry on nails. We did cut the ends and string them first.

In the winter these were put in a pot with a bit of bacon greese in water and boiled or stewed all day on her wood cook stove. They taste "different" from fresh or canned green beans and a bit tough but no canning involved! You just string 'em up and let 'em dry. Anyone else made and ate Leather Britches?

So now you know where the old time fiddle tune "Leather Britches" came from :) I'll bet that some of you that have heard it thought it had something to do with leather pants LOL!

Mitch

[NCLee]

Yep, Leather britches were a staple in this part of NC, too. The old fashioned spools of thread used for looping tobacco on sticks for flu curing worked best for stringing the pods. Since it was all cotton, it was food safe. And because of the weight of green tobacco, it sure was strong enough to hold a long string of beans. BTW, another term for green beans, was "snaps". That term is still in use locally, but is gradually fading away, as is the knowledge of leather britches.

Bet, too, that a lot of younger folks don't know that "snaps" used to have a string that had to be removed. :wink:

Lee

[Anon001]

Last summer there was discussion on leather britches. It was also the first year I tried it. I threaded them on 6 foot long strings to dry.

"snaps".... We grew up using the word "snaps" for the black-eye peas that were too immature to shell. We snapped them after removing the "string". We never referred to green beans as snaps..... the difference in locaions, I guess.

Paul

[Teg]

Yep, Leather britches were a staple in this part of NC, too. The old fashioned spools of thread used for looping tobacco on sticks for flu curing worked best for stringing the pods. Since it was all cotton, it was food safe. And because of the weight of green tobacco, it sure was strong enough to hold a long string of beans. BTW, another term for green beans, was "snaps". That term is still in use locally, but is gradually fading away, as is the knowledge of leather britches.

Bet, too, that a lot of younger folks don't know that "snaps" used to have a string that had to be removed. :wink:

Lee

Making me homesick. :)

[Junie]

I've made leather britches for years. I had one of my neighbors make me a shelf with pegs along the bottom, especially for hanging them on. The top of the shelf is for jars of tea. It has a little railing so the jars won't fall. When that isn't enough, I have screws next to the ceiling in one of the kids' rooms that I can hang them on.

Once they're dry, I let them slide off the string into coffee cans. I tried leaving them hanging on the shelf, but they got pretty dusty and covered in cobwebs.

After they're cooked, they remind me of Grandma's green beans. She'd throw in a piece of fatback and cook them all day (these were fresh beans, not dried)

I've spent many an afternoon, sitting in the porch rocker with a big bowl on my lap, stringing and snapping beans and talking to Grandma.

[GoodDaughter]

Is there a specific variety of bean that's used for making them? I thought I read somewhere (I could be misremembering) that the 'greasy' or 'cut short' beans were used because they dried better. Was that in one of the Foxfire books? I'm trying to remember where I read it...

What kind of beans do you use? I want to try this.

[sbemt456]

Good Daughter my personal preference is half runner beans, either white or brown or Ky Wonder bush bean. I like to have a little bean in the pods so they make a nice thick juice when they are cooked as leather britches or shuck beans. And ya gotta have a piece of fat meat in there to make a good pot o beans.
Also likely what you are referring to is what we call "greasy grit" beans. Similar to brown half runner in taste but a good deal smaller. The flavor is good, they are just so small it takes a ton of em to make a quart to can. I rather have Ky wonder as they are bigger and the flavor is just as good.

Have a great day!

stella

[Junie]

I use KY wonder bush beans, too. I've used the greasy grit, but I prefer to grow a bush bean.

I'm going to grow those flat Italian beans this year. I'm going to try drying those and see how they cook up.

[NCLee]

We plant KW bush beans, too. That's what our local feed/farm store stocks in bulk. So they are definitely a regional favorite around here. BTW, can buy seeds by the pound or ounce there.

Lee

[Junie]

Lee, I usually order open-pollinated seeds from Baker's Creek, but, every year, about mid-summer, I start to freak out that I won't be able to get seeds the next year, so I go to the farm store and buy loads of seeds, some in pounds, some in ounces, depending on how big the seeds are. I have enough seeds right now to grow a garden big enough to feed the whole county and all of its farm animals (at least!)

[NCLee]

Junie, you're reading my mind. LOL

When I go to get seeds, have been thinking about buying 2 years worth at one time. Plus, when the local stores put seeds on clearance, buying a bunch of those, too. Just put the packs in gallon glass jars and stashing them away, just in case. For many, there'll be some germination for at least 5 years. Naturally, the % of germination will go down each year, but some is better than nothing, IMHO.

Lee

[Junie]

Lee, you know, if Rockefeller, the Ford Foundation, Bill Gates, Monsanto, Syngenta, the UN Development Program and the World Bank are investing in stockpiling heirloom, non-GMO seeds, then we should be doing the same. Makes you wonder what they know that we don't.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7529

[NCLee]

Interesting read, Junie. Thanks for sharing the link.

Yes, I agree about storing heirloom seeds, where possible. Not only storing them, but planting them to keep the seed viable.

Your post triggered a memory from my childhood. My Dad was a tobacco farmer, as the main cash crop. He also planted corn, cotton, wheat, and soybeans.

Anyway, I remember one year when he had a bumper crop of tobacco. Said it was the best crop he ever grew. When mature, those plants were huge. A short person couldn't "top" them (Break out the blooms). Flu cured well to yield a high quality leaf that brought top dollar at the market.

Don't know who produced the seed, but I do remember the name - Coker 316.

Following that harvest, planting of Coker 316 seeds was banned by somebody. Daddy said the seed were no longer available because it produced too much tobacco for his alloted acerage. (Each farm had an assigned number of acres for tobacco. A govt rep would come out and physically measure the crop. Remember several times when Daddy had to plow up a few rows while the rep watched, because he'd overplanted.)

I'm not sure how, but reasonably sure this memory ties in with the "control" referenced in the article. -- small farmer producing too much.

This was in the late 1950's, early 60's.

Lee

[Junie]

Lee, check out this article. It's kind of a strange site and not one I've ever seen~

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=981&dat=19591216&id=9N8kAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vRAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3889,845573

[NCLee]

Thanks Junie!

That was neat! My Dad may have seen the very same ad in a local paper or the Progressive Farmer magazine. He subscribed to it for years.

So, there was a seed company with the name of Coker. Another bit of info to fill in the blanks, and you've brought back more memories of my Dad. Thanks, again.

The combo of the article, the ad, those memories, and more has me convinced that I need to really build up my stock of seeds this year.

Lee