Black Bean Soup with Apple and Ham Hock

Saturday December 29

For Christmas, David gave Holt just what he needed: his own copy of The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld. Now we can finally take the library copy back, as we've had it out perilously close to the 9-week limit.

We were going to use the giant ham bone from our giant Christmas ham by cooking up our take on Moosewood's Brazilian black bean soup, with the addition of the ham. But lo, Holt's new acquisition offered the perfect recipe, including a pork product

We used the ham bone instead of bacon, of course, and pressure-cooked it and the beans. The result was very good and flavorful, though next time we'll skip the syrup, as the apples make it quite sweet enough for our tastes.