Kathy's Southern Style Green Beans

By kathya5084

I adapted this from the Kopper Kettle Inn in Morristown Indiana. You can use fresh, but I usually use frozen. Freeze the leftover stock for soups and sauces or use instead of water the next time you make green beans. Wrapping in cheesecloth isn't necessary, but eliminates fishing out bits and pieces of the ham bones and onions after cooked.

Ingredients

• 6 cups water or enough to cover ingredients
• 48 ounces of frozen green beans, thawed OR
• 3 pounds fresh green beans, cleaned and snappped
• 2 to 4 ham hocks or 2 ham shanks if you prefer more meat, wrapped in cheesecloth
• 1 large onion, halved and wrapped in cheesecloth
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Place beans, onions, ham hocks, brown sugar, salt and pepper in large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to low and simmer, covered for about 2 1/2 hours, until ham hocks are tender. Remove hocks and debone, discard bones. Remove onions, squeeze out juice and discard. Serve warm. Makes 7 to 71/2 cups green beans, excluding meat.
Green Beans 1 cup without meat = 100 calories