preserving
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root
vegetables preserving
eggs in
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isinglass pickling eggs
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runner beans
the old way preparing
runner beans
the easier way preserving
runner beans
by salting

How to preserve runner beans the old way by salting

This page explains how women preserved runner beans in Victorian times right up until when families started owning freezers. The method involved salting and it worked extremely well. The preserved runner beans kept for months and tasted just as if they had been picked that same day.

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By the webmaster, based on watching and talking to older people and personal experience

Why preserve runner beans by salting

Before household freezers, it was crucial to be able to preserve home-grown runner beans because they grew and cropped so well in the UK even in quite small back gardens. Quite a number of families on the Victorian estates where my mother grew up also had allotments which would have provided an even bigger yield.

The container for the salting

If you would like to have a go at salting your own beans, the type of container is important. A plastic bucket is ideal, but in past times there were no plastics. So the women used containers made of glass or stoneware. China wouldn't do because the salt was said to take off the glaze; metal would give the beans a bad taste and unglazed earthenware, being porous, would allow the salty liquid from the beans to leak through and puddle on the floor.

As a boy, I saw earthenware jars being used. They held about two gallons and were glazed on the outside, but I'm not sure if they were glazed inside.

John Boulton

The type and amount of salt

Start by putting a layer of salt into the container. In the past, women used cooking salt which came in blocks and was cheaper than table, but it had to be crumbled.However, any salt will do, including table salt.

The salting needs about a pound of salt to 3-4 lb of beans, but in practice I am sure that the women just put in handfuls as seemed right to them.

Nowadays, for salting my runner beans from the allotment, I buy 25Kg bags of either Israeli or Jordanian Dead Sea salt. I don't use table salt because they add chemical anti-caking agents.

John Boulton

Layering the salt and beans

Then put in a layer of sliced beans - see the separate page on the easy way to slice the beans - then a layer of salt and repeat the layers as more beans become available, making sure to finish with a layer of salt. The salt draws the liquid out of the beans and immediately becomes damp.

At every stage of the layering process, cover the container with a lid of some sort. The light needs to be kept out or the beans go brown, so if the container is glass, it needs to be kept in the dark or wrapped in brown paper which was readily available in the early part of the 20th century.

How to store the salted beans

Because of salt attacking leaky glaze, it used to be important not to leave the container on a tiled surface. This was particularly important in the old sculleries where floors were tiled. The beans were probably kept on a wooden shelf somewhere outside in a shed. The salt would put off vermin.

Of course, today, with plastic buckets, storage is less of a problem.

How to use the preserved salted beans

To use the beans, take a few handfuls from the container and rinse them well in cold water. Do not soak. Long soaking apparently makes them tough. Then boil them, just like fresh beans but without adding any salt.

I can imagine that the preserved beans must have been a real treat during the winters of the past.

Other produce which can be preserved by salting

I remember mushrooms being salted down to preserve them when there was a glut.

I also remember rubbing salt into all the bacon meat from our farm. It was my job as a 'little-un' with tea-towel tied round my waist with baler twine, I had to shave the salt from the block salt with a carving knife and rub it into the meat.

John Boulton

If you can add anything to this page or provide a photo, I would be pleased if you would contact me.

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