Green Bean Soup

Fall typically means its time to bring out my soup pot and fill it with the last of the Summer Vegetables and then enjoy the aroma throughout the home on a drizzly day. Terry was out cutting the lawn and said that every time he went by the kitchen window that was open a crack, he caught a whiff and his mouth kept watering. The leaves on the oak tree are not at all colored yet, this is a cheatin' picture from last fall. I didn't think you'd want to be met with my ham hock upon opening my blog today.
Ah, there you are. I went to the butcher and asked for a smoked ham hock. You can also use a small ham with a bone in it, or the bone that is left after you've had a ham for a dinner is perfect. Cover the ham just barely with water. Okay, I confess this is one of those recipes that are a little loose on exact measurements .. .just pretend you're an Mennonite Oma and start cooking.
Simmer the smoked bone or ham hock for a few hours.
Chop up some green beans. I used about 6 cups for this pot of soup. Now this made a big pot of soup so if you want to make a small pot save some of the broth for the soup and put the rest in the freezer for the next time you need some soup.
I also added about 4 potatoes, cubed and a chopped onion.
If you don't like your spices floating around for decoration, find some cheesecloth.
I used a bay leaf and about 5 whole allspice and 8 black peppercorns.
You will need a handful of fresh parsley and some summer savory. Summer savory is papakrut (German). You'll need a few teaspoons of the summer savory. If you have fresh summer savory, all the better. You would need a small handful of it.

I also added about 5 chopped carrots. Simmer all the vegetables for about 1/2 and hour and then add the spices. Simmer for an hour and then taste it and decided if you want to add some salt. I added a good teaspoon to my large pot of soup.

Serve it with a dollop of sour cream. Okay, now I'm looking at my instructions and again wondering how you make yours. I know there are many variations of Mennonite recipes and I'd love to know if you have more specific quantities. If you do, please leave them in the comments so that others can benefit from them. I'm sure they would be appreciated.
Thank you so much for all the kind comments and emails yesterday. The funeral is being held today in Germany.
Have a wonderful day my friends.






Comments

  1. Hmmm...corn bread...no, spoon bread. maybe Steamed Brown bread. What kind of bread are you going to make to go with it? Delish reicpe and pictures, and such great autumnal colors to boot.

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  2. I cooked a pot of bean soup last week. Since I had no ham bone on hand, I used farmer sausage to make the stock & that worked too. It's the summer savory that makes it green bean soup...gotta have it!
    Mine never got served in such lovely dishes though, Lovella.

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  3. Hmmmm... I think I can smell it all the way over here....the aroma sneaking out your kitchen window just banks up against our mountain!

    By the way, do you have to prompt Terry to make 'blog-worthy' remarks??

    Its hard to be in a very real way so closely connected to what is happening in Germany today ..and yet so far away...isn't it?

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  4. Perfect for our overcast day today!
    yum yum...

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  5. Oh, I love soup season...bring the pot out again and dance the dance of soup! Yummy!

    Kimmie
    mama to 6
    one homemade and 5 adopted
    (our Guatemalan adoption is looking to be shakey... ;-(

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  6. I make mine the same way and also use farmer sausage if I don't have ham on hand. I also add some chicken soup powder and lots of onion and celery. I also add yellow beans since that's how my mom made it! Mmmmmm...I could go for a giant bowl right now!

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  7. Isn't food a funny thing. Just talking about it brings the smell and taste right to the senses. Looks delish.My measurements for soup are about the same as yours:)"About that much and abit of this". Enjoy the left overs too. Kathy

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  8. The soup sounds and looks sooooo very good... I think I can even smell it cooking!!!
    thanks for the recipe!!!

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  9. I have a ham bone and green beans in my fridge and was looking for a good Mennonite version of Green Bean Soup. I googled it and your blog came up. I'm delighted with your soup recipe...it looks exactly the way my mom makes it! I have the ham simmering as I write this. I love all the pictures on your blog. Of course, now I have spent the last hour reading your blog, enjoying your writing and pictures.
    Thanks also for the verse on the side bar. You've done a nice set up on your blog.

    From a reader in Manitoba - a fellow Mennonite,
    Charlotte

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  10. I found you through google as well! Looks just like moms and love the accompanying photos. Simmering the ham hock as I write and now I just have to got out and buy the allspice. :) Thanks!

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  11. For reasons that I won't go into, I was trying to find the German spelling for Green Bean Soup. I googled it and happened across your blog. I must say it's the best I've seen complete with step by step pics (a real bonus). I'll be back for recipes, but in the meantime, I'm still looking for that dratted spelling...

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  12. Do you mean griene schaubel suppe?

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  13. Was looking for a green bean soup recipe - and yours came up on google. Looks wonderful!
    Funny thing is I grew up in Abbotsford (live in California now) and went to Northview, MEI, TWU. . . small world. Your name sounds very familiar.
    Anyways - thanks!

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  14. I , too, made green bean soup the other day, using farmer sausage and a mixture of green and yellow beans along with the other vegetables. I added a handful of pot barley to thicken it up. Also some cumin and beef boullion powder along with salt and pepper and a bundle of summer savory to flavor it. A friend taught me the method of preserving the summer savory. In summer, when the plant is just at the right stage in my garden - fresh and green before flowering, I gather up handfuls and tie them in bundles very tightly with kitchen string, then freeze them. It's so simple to throw a tied bundle into my soup in winter - and then to remove it once it's done its seasoning job. I have the space so I plant several rows of summer savory at 2 week intervals in the spring. The soup makers in my community are thrilled when I bring them some of this fresh aromatic herb which I harvest in abundance.

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  15. Green Bean Soup is one of my favorites from my mom. The main difference, though, is that she added both buttermilk and sweet cream after the cooking was done, and before serving it (instead of sour cream.) And summer savory is the most important spice... I agree. Yum.

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  16. nice post, I will give it a try. I will try blending the soup in the blender at the end.

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  17. Ham is a first choice, although farmer sausage in a pinch, served with sweet cream and must have zweibach on hand! :c) YUM!

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  18. My former mother-in-law used to make ham and bean soup that was to die for!! How I miss her cooking. :) She made hers with yellow beans.
    I made a baked ham tonight and thought I need to find a good Mennonite Ham and Bean Soup recipe and landed on your site. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

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  19. My mom always called it something like "yalmazup" but now after reading a bit more and looking up the low German for yellow (jal) I'm thinking her word for the soup might have been referring to yellow beans. Anyone else know?

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  20. Yalmazup is actually carrot soup. My mom made the best yalmazup ever!! I'm cooking a pot of green bean soup as I'm typing this...can hardly wait!! It's beginning to smell like Moms kitchen...how I miss her!!

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  21. Yalmazup is Mennonite carrot soup...my Mom made the best!! Her green bean soup was to die for too!! I'm making some right now. It's smelling like Moms kitchen...how I do miss that lovely lady!

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