Homemade Bean Soup

This is double homemade soup.  The beans all came from the garden.  Last years crop of green beans got ahead of us. Toward the end of the season we let the beans mature and dry.

Cooking the beans was fairly standard. At 8:00 A.M.,  I covered the beans with water and brought the pot to a boil.  After 5 minutes the heat was turned off and the beans soaked until 3:00 P.M.

The beans were rinsed and covered with fresh water.  Using/modifying a Mennonite Girls Recipe, I added several smoked ham shanks, 1/3 cup brown sugar and a couple of tablespoons of hot sauce.

The soup simmered for about 3 hours.  The shanks were removed.  I used an immersion blender to blend about 1/4 of the beans and thicken the soup. Remove the ham from the bones and put it it back to the soup.

Nancy made some corn bread muffins for a perfect supper.