Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Runner beans

myclayjunglemyclayjungle Posts: 162
in Fruit & veg
What do you do with runner beans that have eluded your view and grown over 34cm (1ft) long?  Dry them and use as seed next year? Can the seeds be dried and used in soup?  Or do you cook them a certain way to eat now?
Coastal Suffolk/Essex Border- Clay soil
«1

Posts

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    The length of the bean isn't important in itself.  If the bean seeds have started to fatten I would save some of the seeds and throw the rest away.  I've had beans in the past where the pods are over that length but are still not stringy, and are perfectly edible.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    You can also simply freeze them and use in something like a Tomato sauce.  Make your sauce, get a few beans out of the freezer, chop up into reasonable lengths and put them in. The heat from the sauce will just cook them enough so they still retain their flavour. 
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I string them and boil them.
    They take a minute longer to cook, but they're just as good as the smaller pods.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    They’ll be fine to cook as normal,  they’re only a fraction over 34cms
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    I’m going to have to disagree. I find that older beans are more fibrous and longer cooking times still leaves them tasting stringy and, for me, not really palatable.

    Telling if a bean is not worth cooking comes from the resistance put up when they are stringed.

    Not very keen on the flabbiness of frozen beans, I use the glut at this time of year to make green bean soup. String and chop the beans and cook in a Knorr vegetable stock pot liquid. Gently fry in oil or butter about a fifth as much chopped onion as you had chopped beans. Add some garlic when the onions are nearly done. Mix the onions and beans plus seasoning. Put it through the blender. Add some cream. Eat or freeze it.
    Rutland, England
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    I put stringy beans on the compost heap.  At the end of the season if they have started to go brown, then seeds are worth saving, but not out of green pods.
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Any of  the above plus, once you have enough seed saved, the remainder can be used to add weight to Chilli etc. like kidney beans.
  • adeymary92adeymary92 Posts: 1
    Enjoy them at their very best in the late summer in this stunning light lunch or starter with chorizo, eggs and almonds.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2023
    adeymary92 said:
    Enjoy them at their very best in the late summer in this stunning light lunch or starter with chorizo, eggs and almonds.
    Think you’ve forgotten your link
    … was it for a spam salad? 😉 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    You’ll tell instantly you snap it in half for preparing if it’s going to be stingy, if it’s a clean snap it’s fine,  if it stays joined just peel it in further and cut the lengths finer. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

Sign In or Register to comment.