Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food

Drying was widely practiced by our forebears, and thanks to the modern availability of dehydrators, it is once more increasingly popular. Various types of foods—legumes, some fruits, berries and various vegetables—lend themselves to drying. The process intensifies taste and sometimes offers delightful differences in it. It requires little storage room, and most dried foods have a shelf life lasting from several months to years. Dried tomatoes, peppers, squash and okra can be added to soups and stews for flavor. Reconstituted squash, in particular, adds wonderful thickness. Also, peppers, both sweet and hot, can be dried and then pulverized to use just as you would ground black peppercorns (from a shaker, if you wish) to season foods. Tomatoes can likewise be ground into powder for a rich seasoning or to sprinkle atop salads.

On the fruit side, dried apples are often reconstituted and cooked as a sweet in Appalachia, but they are also used as a side dish mountain folks simply call fruit (as they also often describe canned apples). Dried apples are particularly savory when reconstituted and go wonderfully well with meals from breakfast to supper.

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Gwendolyn and Mary Alice Bennett in the family garden. Courtesy of Hunter Library, Western Carolina University.

Soup beans are one of the most common Appalachian foodstuffs. The humble pot of soup beans has literally kept the inhabitants of the Appalachian Mountains alive and well for generations. The first step in cooking soup beans is to look your beans: i.e., go through them carefully and discard any foreign materials such as rocks or leaves. After looking, rinse the beans a few times and then cover with water and allow to soak overnight.

Soup beans need to cook for many hours to become soft. A few different cooking options: cook beans on top of the stove, replenishing water as needed; cook soup beans in a slow cooker; or cook soup beans in a pressure cooker.

After you decide which method to use, you need to decide how to season the beans. Our favorite approach is to use fatback (salt pork), bacon or ham. Cover the beans with water, add seasoning and cook until done. When seasoning with salt and pepper to taste, keep in mind the salt content of the meat, if you’re using a salt-cured option.

NOTE: In place of soaking beans overnight, boil looked beans for 2 minutes, remove the pot from heat and allow to sit for an hour before cooking.

“Soup beans” always meant navy beans in the Casada family (for Tipper’s, it was pintos—see previous recipe), but this recipe, the essence of simplicity, will work with any type of dried beans. In fact, my personal favorites are either pintos or October beans. No matter what kind of dried bean you start with, it is highly advisable to rinse them thoroughly in a colander as your first step. Any grit or dirt left from the harvesting process should be washed away. The next step is to put the beans in a large stewpot or soup pot and cover with water. Remove any beans that float immediately to the top or appear questionable in color.

Soaking can go in one of two directions. I usually cover the beans, with enough water to be 2 or 3 inches clear of the beans, and let them soak overnight. Rest assured they will soak up all the water and you’ll likely need to add more when you’re ready to cook. Alternatively, you can bring the dry beans to a rolling boil and then back off, letting the beans set for 20 to 30 minutes.

Either way, once you’re ready to cook, add a ham hock (or soup bone, if you’re lucky enough to have one left from a ham) and bring the pot to a boil before turning the heat down to a slow simmer. I like to add black pepper and a bit of red pepper at this point, although I hold off on any salt until the beans are tender and ready to serve. That’s because the ham or ham hock will have considerable salt, and there’s nothing more distressing than a big pot of soup beans that are too salty. Cook until thoroughly done and tender, but avoid overcooking and having the beans turn to mush. Serve with a big pone of cornbread and a fruit salad, and you are every bit as well off as folks eating fancy fixin’s in four-star restaurants.

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Gideon Laney and his daughter, Grace, cooking for a Works Progress Administration crew. Courtesy of Hunter Library, Western Carolina University.

Soak tomatoes in hot water for 30 minutes. (If you are using dried tomatoes in oil, this step is not necessary.) Heat olive oil in pan, sauté spinach until it is almost done and add seasonings to taste. Add tomatoes and cook until warmed through. If using, add chickpeas. Adjust seasoning and serve. Makes a good side dish for any meal.

In a large kettle, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered 1 hour or until peas are tender. With a potato masher, mash vegetables right in kettle. Simmer uncovered about 15 minutes for a thick, hearty soup.

Soak beans for at least 2 hours, then drain. Fill Dutch oven with ham hock, beans, water and broth. Cook on low until beans are tender. Sauté onion, garlic and parsley in margarine and add to soup along with bay leaves, parsley, kielbasa, salt and pepper. Continue cooking over low heat until beans are soft (about 3 hours). Add a small amount of water if the soup becomes too thick. Remove bay leaves and hock, chopping ham from the latter into small pieces and returning to the soup. Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream and chopped onion.

Leather britches have a totally different taste than fresh or canned green beans. The drying process gives them a deep rich, smoky flavor.

Soak leather britches overnight before cooking. Discard water and rinse. Add leather britches to pot and cover with water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add your choice of meat to season the beans. My favorite meat to use is fatback (salt pork). For a mess of leather britches, I add two pieces of meat. Cook beans for several hours until soft. Additional water will need to be added, as the leather britches cook down over a long period of time. Since the leather britches are dried, they will take much longer to cook than fresh green beans.

TIP: Leather britches may be made from any type of green beans, but greasy beans and white half runners work especially well.

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A pot of leather britches beans ready to cook. Tipper Pressley.

I’ve never known for sure what the “proper” name for these members of the legume family is. In the Casada family, we variously called them field peas, crowder peas and clay peas, and they go by other names, such as zip peas, purple hulls and pink eyes. They come in literally dozens of varieties, but all share a couple of things in common—they produce prolifically and are delicious to eat.

We normally shell and freeze 30 quarts or so, and our standard approach is to blanch them, put them in freezer bags and finish the cooking when they are ready to be eaten. I am partial to cooking them with streaked meat (anyone who grew up in the mountains will tell you that pork will dress up and improve the taste of most anything), but if you feel compelled to yield to the dictates of the weight and cholesterol nazis, just use a bit of low-sodium bouillon. Cook in a saucepan until done, and if you happen to be a fan of chowchow, as I am, top them with it. Otherwise, just enjoy them with cornbread and the rest of your victuals.

NOTE: Crowder peas are widely used as a menu item for New Year’s Day. Supposedly, their brown color represents pennies.

Hunters sometimes describe persimmons as “nature’s candy” since deer are so drawn to this wild fruit, and there is no question about the sticky-sweet wonder of truly ripe ones. Persimmons contain appreciably less moisture than many fruits and lend themselves to drying. Gathering enough wild ones, removing their many seeds and obtaining sufficient pulp to make a pudding, much less persimmon leather, can be a chore. However, Oriental persimmons are easy to grow, bear early and carry fruit many times the size of their wild cousins while losing nothing when it comes to taste. They are ideal for persimmon leather.

The process is simple. Clean fully ripe Oriental persimmons when they are soft almost to the point of mushiness and mash them through a colander. That removes any fiber or hint of seeds while producing pulp ready for drying. Place in thin strips atop parchment paper in a dehydrator set at a fairly low temperature or on tinfoil in the sun. When dry, the leather will still be flexible, as opposed to brittle, and can be rolled up. It keeps best in a refrigerator or airtight jars; be aware that any vestiges of moisture can lead to mold. Leather can also be compacted and frozen. It makes a wonderful, chewy snack or can be reconstituted for persimmon pudding or bread.

My coauthor, Tipper, first brought this recipe to my attention. She uses fresh blueberries, but knowing that blueberries dry easily immediately suggested using dehydrated ones. Besides, like most avid cooks, I’m always intrigued by a bit of experimentation. In this case, it worked!

Reconstituted blueberries, enough to cover the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan or cast-iron pan

Melt ⅓ of your butter (½ stick) in the cake pan. Stir in the brown sugar until it is fully blended. Add reconstituted blueberries to the pan bottom and distribute evenly for a full layer. Melt remaining butter and mix with sugar, eggs and vanilla using a whisk or beater. Add flour, baking powder and salt, stirring enough to combine. Add sour cream and whisk until combined (it helps to soften the sour cream by microwaving for a few seconds).

Pour batter over fruit and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and cool for 5 to 10 minutes before turning onto a plate.