I love this soup. I only changed 1 thing or 2. I did not have ham or ham bone so I used the leftover ribs from this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooked-Country-Ribs-in-Gravy/Detail.aspx I always have mass leftover ribs so this is a great way to use up the ribs.

I just went to my deli counter and asked for two thick slices of ham and then chopped it up at home. After the soup was finished I took out about a cup and a half and pureed it in my mini blender. This made the consistency of the soup just perfect! a little bit more of a creamier base....All in all, it was just simple and healthy and turned out delicious! I also took another reviewer's advice and made some cornbread to go with it and that made a great meal.

it was ediable, I put everything into the crock pot as other reviewer suggested and it smelled great but, it tasted like something was missing.

For the most part I followed the recipe as written except I followed one reviewer's tip and added carrots. Also cooked the ham bone as one suggested and omitted the salt. This is a very good and flavorful soup as written. Will definitely make again!!!

I used canned beans instead of dried, so I did not add the extra water at the end. Soup was pretty thin (this is likely my fault since the dried beans would have soaked up some water) so I added a scant cup of mashed potato flakes. I also added hot pepper flakes and extra black pepper - we liked that punch of heat.

I loved this soup so much! I only changed a few things: Used all chicken broth instead of water/bouillon. Used 2 onions, fresh parsley, and cayenne pepper instead of black. I added a ham hock purchased at the store. This ham hock apparently had some salt, as I needed no additional salt for the soup. I really don't like tomato based soups. But, after reading the reviews, I realized that the chopped tomatoes would not turn into a tomato soup. I wouldn't leave them out, as I think they added to the soup. But they didn't cook down into a tomato-based soup, for which I was happy. I think that the soup was marvelous. I might change next time to use "reduced sodium" chicken broth, as the ham hock provides all the salt the soup really needs.

I've made this soup several times. I use a ham bone whenever I have one. Great soup- much better than your typical bean soup.

This was tasty, but the overwhelming flavor really seemed to be salt, which came all from the ham, because I didn't add any more salt. It was easy, but I'm not sure I'd make it again.

This was a very tasty recipe! I will make this again. Thank you for sharing it!

This recipe was very good. I made it with a ham bone that was left over. My family enjoyed this. This is a keeper. Thanks for the recipe.

wonderful

I made this soup today with a Smoked Ham Hock and I added Liquid Smoke because I love the flavour that the smoke gives it...it is delicious but I had to simmer it for almost 6 hours, not the suggested 4 hours the recipe stated. I didn't add the salt or chicken cube until after the 5th hour of cooking, knowing well that salt inhibits the cooking of the beans. While the recipe did not state to soak the beans overnight, I think I will definately add this step in the future to see if it will make a difference in the cooking time. With that said, this is really a delicious soup that you can make on the back burner on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

This was just ok soup.

I never seem to have ham on hand when I want to make this soup, so instead of ham I've used smoked sausage with very good results. Delish! Served with Portuguese Sweet Bread from this site, it makes for a great rainy day meal.

Very tastey! I used 5 chicken broth cubes and seven cups of water initially. I didn't feel it needed more water when it was done. I also used the pressure cooker at 15lbs for 45 minutes to speed cooking. I didn't have ham so I substituted Canadian bacon and I added tabasco to my portion to spice it up. I will make this again!!

Very tasty.

It's a hearty soup, but a little too heavy on flavor (maybe just the salt?). I used pre-cooked, pre-cub