Having been away on holiday I come back to find my runner beans have
gone past it ie beans forming and tough. Is there anyway I can still
eat these or is it best just to let goo for seed

Thanks
Rich

In article ,
writes
Having been away on holiday I come back to find my runner beans have
gone past it ie beans forming and tough. Is there anyway I can still
eat these or is it best just to let goo for seed

We pick our runners 2 or 3 times a week. Even so, there are still some
pods which manage to escape attention and have become tough and stringy
by the time they are picked. That becomes more so as the season
progresses, and by mid to late September the pods seem to be going hard
almost from the time they emerge from the flower. At that time we let 3
or 4 good strong looking pods go right on until fully ripened, then save
the seed from those for next season.

I picked a batch of runners today, some for our lunch, some for the
freezer, but there were half a dozen or so of them too knobbly for those
uses. I stringed those pods on both sides, put them through the bean
slicer, half formed bean seeds* and all, then microwaved them for 10
mins. along with the flesh of a courgette. I blended that mush with a
salad dressing mixture (cider vinegar, corn-flour, mustard powder,
yoghurt, salt pepper, olive oil, herbs etc.) then simmered it for a few
mins. to thicken. I shall nosh that as a dip with crackers this evening
while telling Joan where Monty Don has it all wrong in Gardener's World.
Great life gardening!

* Fully formed runner bean seeds should be avoided unless well boiled.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:

* Fully formed runner bean seeds should be avoided unless well boiled.

Very true - but you can treat them as for red kidney beans. I'm still alive.

Grone.





Thump!

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I had a glut a couple of weeks ago and made some curried bean soup - the
recipe called for french beans but it seemed to work just as well with
runner beans. I would imagine it would work OK on the tougher beans (but
take out the beans inside) as the whole thing is blended into a creamy soup
at the end.

Jeanne Stockdale

PS I tried Alan's method of freezing (i.e. without blanching) and was
delighted that they remained crunchy and didn't go into the usual soggy
mess. But how long can you keep them frozen if not blanched?

wrote in message
...
Having been away on holiday I come back to find my runner beans have
gone past it ie beans forming and tough. Is there anyway I can still
eat these or is it best just to let goo for seed

Thanks
Rich

Jeanne Stockdale wrote in message
...
I had a glut a couple of weeks ago and made some curried bean soup - the
recipe called for french beans but it seemed to work just as well with
runner beans. I would imagine it would work OK on the tougher beans (but
take out the beans inside) as the whole thing is blended into a creamy
soup
at the end.

Jeanne Stockdale

PS I tried Alan's method of freezing (i.e. without blanching) and was
delighted that they remained crunchy and didn't go into the usual soggy
mess. But how long can you keep them frozen if not blanched?


Lots of conflicting advice re blanching I've found. Basically, it seems that
if you don't blanch, things will stay fresh for up to one month in the
freezer, but if you do blanch they will last between 6 months and a year.

snip

In article , Jeanne Stockdale
writes
PS I tried Alan's method of freezing (i.e. without blanching) and was
delighted that they remained crunchy and didn't go into the usual soggy
mess. But how long can you keep them frozen if not blanched?

We usually freeze our surplus runners (without blanching) until about
mid-September. They keep perfectly well until the following year and the
new crop are ready to begin freezing. If there are still any over from
the previous year, we make soup from them or use them up in some way.
The trick is to take the pods young and tender, then string and slice
them and have them into the freezer literally within minutes of picking.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:161835

The message
from " Jeanne Stockdale" contains these words:

PS I tried Alan's method of freezing (i.e. without blanching) and was
delighted that they remained crunchy and didn't go into the usual soggy
mess. But how long can you keep them frozen if not blanched?

I was under the impression that it was dangerous to freeze vegetables
without blanching them. Certain bacteria can multiply (slowly) in very
cold conditions. The word e-coli keeps popping up in me 'ed.

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The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:

The trick is to take the pods young and tender, then string and slice
them and have them into the freezer literally within minutes of picking.

The trick is to pick them before they require stringing.

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In article , Rusty Hinge
writes
The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:

The trick is to take the pods young and tender, then string and slice
them and have them into the freezer literally within minutes of picking.

The trick is to pick them before they require stringing.

Whether runners require stringing or not is a matter of personal taste.
I prefer to string even tender pods on both sides because though they
may not have developed strings, the sides are beginning to harden.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article , Rusty Hinge
writes

I was under the impression that it was dangerous to freeze vegetables
without blanching them. Certain bacteria can multiply (slowly) in very
cold conditions. The word e-coli keeps popping up in me 'ed.

Commercial freezing companies are obliged to blanch for that reason.
Gardeners freezing their own vegetables are able to select the best
quality goods and to deal with them immediately after picking - i.e
before any bacteria can develop. In our own case, all our crops are
organically grown so we prefer to maintain their good flavour and
texture as far as possible when freezing them or storing them by any
other means. We have not blanched any of our produce for many years.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:

We have not blanched any of our produce for many years.

I salt any spare beans. Habit of a lifetime: the old crock has long
since died and been replaced with a plastic bucket.

Doesn't use so much fuel either......

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