"Judith Lea" wrote in message
...
We have a great crop of runner beans. We planted very late as we were
away for the month of August and only planted the last week in July.

They are delicious but we cannot eat the vast amounts being produced - I
tried freezing last year but I was unhappy with the end result. Is there
any other way I can preserve beans that will taste as good, or almost as
good as fresh?
--
Judith Lea

My Mum used to preserve them in salt. They were my favorite veg :~))


Found this for you
http://www.foodbanter.com/preserving...er-beans.html:

Preserve your surplus beans with salt - it's cheap, they keep and in my
opinion are at least as delicious as fresh beans (if not better, because you
are probably going to eat them out of season) and easily out-class frozen
beans for texture and flavour.

You will need clean glass jars with tight-fitting lids (they don't have to
be special Kilner or preserving jars, which are quite expensive) i.e. empty
jam or peanut butter jars are ideal, and you will need salt (iodized or
sea-salt). That's all you need (even sealable plastic food storage utensils
are fine).

Wash then top and tail your freshly-picked runner beans and slice them into
small pieces no larger than say 2 inches by half an inch.

Now fill your jars in layers: One inch of sliced beans then half an inch of
salt, beans then salt and so on until your jar is full to within an inch of
the brim.

After 20 minutes you will find that the salt has drawn water from the beans
and that your beans are now being preserved in brine. Tap the jar to
dislodge any large air bubbles, and top up with beans or salt so that before
you seal the jar, all beans are immersed in the brine, add more salt if
necessary to achieve this.

Once your jar is full, (you should still be able to see a little undissolved
salt amongst the beans) seal the jar with a plastic lid or else use 2 layers
of cling film to seal it before capping if the lid is metallic. Your beans
are now preserved ready for labelling and storage, ideally in a cool dark
place such as a pantry.

Before cooking, simply rinse the beans twice in a colander or sieve to
remove excess salt - then enjoy the best runner beans you've ever tasted!
Regards - Neal.
PS: (Also see: http://www.motherearthnews.com/libra...lf_Sufficiency)