How To Preserve Your Green Beans By Air Drying Them

You wait and wait for those first green beans of summer – and suddenly, they're everywhere! If you're lucky enough to have more than you can eat, you can try an old-fashioned way to preserve them via air drying. This technique, which probably originated with the Cherokee people, became popular in Appalachia, allowing gardeners to save part of their harvest for later without spending a lot of money on canning jars. Once dried, the beans were known as "leather britches" thanks to their brown and wrinkled appearance.

Despite the unappetizing name, they can be quite delectable. Drying beans concentrate their natural flavors, creating a rich and satisfying umami taste. Plus, they last for ages, retain all calories and fiber of fresh ones, and keep many of their nutrients. With their crispy crunch, they're fun to snack on as-is, or you can rehydrate them as a side dish or add them to soups or stews. While this technique may not be as fast as freezing green beans, it's always fun to try a method that recaptures the textures and flavors other cooks developed long ago.

The technique works best with wide, flat beans. Start by rinsing them with water, snapping off the tips, and removing any strings. If you don't want them to turn brown, you can blanche green beans first, though this step is purely aesthetic. It's not required for successful dehydration.

For the traditional drying process, you'll need a sharp needle with a big eye, strong thread or unwaxed, unflavored dental floss, and something to hang them from. Cut a piece of thread about three feet long and knot it on the bottom. Thread the other end through a needle, poke it through the center of a bean, and push it down to the bottom of the thread, leaving half an inch of space in between to help them dry evenly. When the thread is full, knot it again and hang it from a nail or a clothesline in a warm, dry place. Some cooks like to dehydrate them over a fire or wood stove to enhance the flavor.

After a week or two, the beans should be wrinkled and leathery. Slide them off the string and transfer them to a mason jar, keeping them in a cool, dry place out of sunlight for up to a year. Then grab a handful as a snack, add them to savory trail mix, or rehydrate them until tender and enjoy the taste of summer in green bean recipes all year round.