Libbity Beans and Ham ♭

I have included libbity (or little-bitty, navy or great northern) beans in a number of my recipes already. This one uses ham as the flavoring agent. There’s not much else to say about it except that you can use the dish as a main meal, as a side dish for the main meal, for lunch, or as a midnight snack. Its taste is captivating and keeps begging you to eat more of it. I always keep a stash of beans at the ready, in my refrigerator.

  • 2 cups dry small white beans, presoaked
  • 3 cups salt-free beef broth
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 oz chopped garlic
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup ham, cubed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried epazote (optional)

Wash the dried beans, remove any debris and ill-looking beans, put them in a large enough sauce pan or kettle, cover with water, bring to a boil, maintain the boil for 10 minutes, turn off the heat, drain, rinse well, and drain again.

Add the broth, water, onion, garlic, ham, and bay leaves to the pot and cook on low heat, barely a simmer, for 2 hours.

Stir in the epazote, if you have it, and cook for another 15 minutes.

Serve in the manner intended (main meal, lunch, etc.). Always have a bottle of Taubasco sauce† handy as an augmenting flavoring agent.

Makes aboout 7 cups.