Yankee Cranberry Bean Soup

It was an old standby, a large pot of flavorful and filling soup that fed an army using pantry staples and leftover scraps.

My mother made yankee bean soup when she had a leftover ham bone and bits of ham and wasn’t planning to make her split pea soup. She didn’t have an actual recipe for it, but used the onions, carrots, and celery that was the base of most of her soups and stews, and she threw in whatever other vegetables she had in the refrigerator.

Most cooks had their own versions of a bean soup, I doubt my mother made it exactly the same twice herself. She varied the beans too, usually white navy beans, but sometimes pinto beans or even yellow eyes. Sometimes, she omitted the tomato and made a milk broth instead, using canned milk, my dad loved it that way.

Ready for company

I had…