Someone noticed that
the split pea soup recipe only uses half the ham broth made and asked what was best to do with the other half; thus I present this recipe for a soup made from one of my favorite beans.
This recipe makes about eight quarts of soup. Like the other recipe, you can either freeze it in containers or can it.
ingredients
- 2 lbs of butter beans (about 5 cups)
- a meaty whole ham bone
- 4 cups leftover ham, diced
- 2 TB butter
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 4 stalks of celery, diced
- 2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 medium cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper (freshly-ground)
basic method
- Rinse and sort beans, cover with water and allow to soak overnight.
- In a stock pot, cover the whole ham bone with about 4 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer about 4 hours. Let cool before proceeding.
- Remove ham bone and shred ham meat that remains. Freeze half the meat and broth for another use. Measure broth and add water enough to make 4 quarts. Add leftover diced ham to shredded meat. Set aside.
- Melt butter in stockpot over medium heat; add onions and celery and cook until starting to soften.
- Drain and rinse butter beans and add to stockpot. Add thyme and stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 3 hours.
- Add cabbage, ham and pepper. Simmer for an additional hour if freezing; otherwise skip to next section.
to can
- Fill canner with hot water and bring to a boil.
- Clean and ready jars: you will need approximately 8 quarts or 10 pints. Place jars in canner to get hot.
- Ladle hot soup into hot jars, then adjust two-piece lids.
- Place jars in canner and bring to 11 lbs pressure (at sea level, adjust for higher altitudes). Process pints for 70 minutes; quarts for 90 minutes.
- After pressure drops to zero, remove jars to allow to cool.
- Remove rings, check seals, label and store.
Bon appetit!
