Never made them so not sure how much help this will be but the NCHFP drying instructions call for the blanching first. I suspect the recommendation is to neutralize any spoilage enzymes. Try some both ways and let us know how they differ/turn out.

Dave

I will let you know Dave.

I didn't see your reply until today, so I will have to wait until the next picking to blanch some.

They are drying pretty quickly on the screen. I took them inside last night so that the dew wouldn't get on them.

They were already kind of wrinkled when I set them back out in the sun this morning. I just have to keep a watch for a popup rain shower and bird poop.

I am going to try to make a dryer with an old window and Coke crate that I have this afternoon so that I don't have to worry about that.

My parents always talked about how much better they tasted than canned or frozen, Mom even said that they were better than fresh. They never made any because it is a lot of extra work if you string them and they had five hungry boys to feed!.

I had forgotten about it until last week when a co-worker mentioned how good his Granny's leather britches were.

To my surprise the blanched are drying quicker than the non blanched.

I haven't tasted any yet, the NB's aren't dry.

When they are both dry I will make a batch of each and see if there is any taste difference.

I hope to pick more today when I get home. I hope they haven't gotten too big. If I have enough I will make some more and string them this time.

I've been working all day, in the direct sun with 95+ degree weather, all week. I have only went to the garden to pick a few tomatoes. Too exhausted!

I never got around to making the dryer either. I don't think I need it in this heat!

I'm eager to hear more about your experiment, Wertach.

My beans went in very late, so I intend to experiment with a few purchased handfuls before my own harvest comes in.

OK, they are both dry now. The ones that weren't blanched are kind of crispy. The blanched are kind of leathery.

I will cook some of each in the morning for a test.I would do it tonight, but I ate fresh green beans with all of the fixins for supper!

Fresh green beans, with new potatoes, and a BLT!

I'm stuffed!

OK, I tried them both. I soaked them in water over night, in the fridge.

Taste wise, there are no differences between blanched and not blanched IMHO.

The blanched have a greener color and better texture. They also didn't have to cook as long to get tender.

They have a richer taste than canned, frozen, and fresh beans.

Now I understand why my parents liked them so much.

I'm surprised to hear that your blanched beans have greener color. Did they look greener when they were dried?

Right now I have a string of blanched and a string of unblanched. It has been only about 36 hours and I am very surprised at how both have dried so far. But especially the blanched. Wow, they look almost finished.

I have to say my blanched ones look pretty disgusting. They look "blanched" as in in turned white. I would think all the green has been bleached out. Did yours turn tan-ish, Wertach? Hard to imagine they could cook up with any green to show.

Does anyone know about nutritional value? I don't think of green beans as especially nutritious anyway, but with how pale these look, I'm wondering if any scant vitamins have been destroyed in the process.

The purchased beans I am experimenting with are probably Blue Lake, which is not a bean I find very tasty. The ones I am growing are Romano pole beans, which are of much greater substance both in the green pod and in the seed part. I'm sure they will be slower to dry. I'm reluctant to risk many of them to the experiment, because I fear losing them to bacteria, mildew and such....We shall see.

Wertach, did you clean the side strings off your beans and snap the stems off? I snapped the stems and cut to size. They don't have side strings that need to be removed, but my Romanos will have them. What would you think about doing the opposite of what you have done?

I think ideally I would like to get a nice solar drier made so that I could dry these under a pasteurizing temperature. If I have the ability to do it more safely, while saving time and energy, I think I should do so.

Mine are tendergreen beans so I didn't have to string them.

I just snapped off the ends and left them whole.

The blanched looked pale in the beginning but turned greener when dried. They also kept better color when cooked.

I have some late planted Romano type beans that are just beginning to produce. I have only gotten about two handful's so far. I plan to try them since that was probably what was used for leather britches when my parents were growing up.

Daddy said they were flat beans.

I recently asked my much older cousin about leather britches, She is 20 years older than me, and she was around when Granny was still in her prime. She told me that you should always leave them whole and just snap or cut off the ends.

I am the baby boy, of the baby boy in the family, so Granny died before I was born.

She said that Granny always blanched them briefly. She would get the water boiling and dip the beans in for maybe 15 seconds + or - then dump them on an old window screen to cool. My cousin was only about 10 years old at the time so I'm sure that she doesn't remember exactly.

I'll keep you updated and I hope yours are good!

We are venturing down an old road with barely a clue!

Wertach, I'm glad you posted this and are trying various methods. My staggered plantings of beans look like they are all going to produce at the same time. I picked the first beans from three different varieties yesterday ....so much for my planning a spread out harvest!

I'll be trying this method soon since I don't care for canned beans and don't have freezer space for lots of any one veggie. But I sure can find a place to store some dried leather britches.

I'm glad that you are going to give it a try Nature Girl.

Will you let me know how they do and if you like them?

I wanted a second opinion on the taste between the fresh from the vine and the blanched leather britches. I don't have any more un-blanched leather britches.

So, I cooked up some of both and took them to work today. I heated them up and put them on the table at lunch time.

I just told them that it was two different recipes and that I wanted them to sample each and give me their opinion on both "recipes".

Everyone liked the taste of the leather britches better. Two people didn't like the texture as good, but the rest of them liked the texture better.

Our only girl in the shop, our shop secretary, said that they tasted like they came from a fancy restaurant.

Then I had a lot of explaining to do.......

When I told them they were leather britches they said "What are leather britches"? LOL

After going over the details they asked, "When are you going to bring us another pot full"? LOL

You talked me into trying them too. If I read right - blanched is better?

Dave

That is very encouraging to hear, Wertach. I just am very impressed with how quickly the blanched beans dry. (Still waiting, waiting, waiting on the non blanched.)

Dave, taste wise I couldn't tell the difference. The blanched dried quicker and took a lot less time to cook. I'm glad to see you and others joining in! Maybe we can help each other figure out the best way! And please let me know your opinion on the finished product!

matthias_lang, Yes I agree, who would have thought that adding water would make them dry faster?????

I have a pic of both types on my laptop. I meant to post it but forgot. I will post the pic if I get time this evening.

You can see the different colors. The ones that weren't blanched turned brown but the blanched didn't. Maybe because they are a different variety? How long and how did you blanch yours? I steamed mine for about 2 minutes.

I haven't made anymore because I'm not picking many beans right now. It has been very hot and I haven't had any rain in over 3 weeks.

So my Romanos are only just coming in. I've canned 2 batches, eaten some fresh, and today decided to make leather britches with the mere two pounds picked this morning , as they are too much to eat now, yet too few to can.

I boiling water blanched for three minutes, then strung on quilting thread. Three minutes looks and tastes like too much blanching time. The beans may have become too tender. I expect some might fall off the thread.

What kind of string or thread has anyone else used? I think now that I'd rather just put them on a protected screen without stringing, but I don't have a good set up ready to go.

about 4 years ago i tried leather britches. i just used carpet thread and a big needle, no blanching, and strung them between the rafters in our house . when really dry, they went into jars. i tried them 2 years later. they took forever to cook ! i wasn't impressed, i could use some hints on how to prepare them.

I cooked a batch of each yesterday, after 2 months of storage. I just left them hanging by the string like people used to do.

I wanted to compare the blanched and not blanched after a longer storage period.

The not blanched wins by a long shot!!

They have better color, flavor, and texture.

They taste like fresh from the garden, only more beany. They are much better than canned or frozen!

I put the blanched in my crockpot this morning on low to simmer all day to see if that improved them. I'll report back later today or tomorrow.

Thanks for that update, Wertach.

I ended up drying our beans on stacked cookie cooling racks, indoors, directly in front of the dining room fan in an air-conditioned (therefore low humidity) house. It takes just over 24 hours to finish a batch. They turn out deep, dark green and as they are flat beans, they look like very dark spinach noodles!

I chose to do these indoors as I thought the sun was bleaching the color out of those strung outdoors. Plus, I just figured it was more hygienic indoors than under the porch roof where flies might visit them.

I chose to spread them on the cookie cooling racks so that they would have better air contact. I was afraid the thread-strung beans would have contact spots where air was excluded and some dread microbe might grow.

We have not yet tried cooking them, as we have had so much fresh to eat. We are still harvesting. I'll try them before I break open the canned beans this winter....I promise to report back on taste and cooking quality later at the end of autumn or beginning of winter.

Storing away these beans gives me something to do with my cool antique but chipped canning jars.

I forgot to report back, sorry. They were still not as good after 10 hours on low in the crock pot.