Beans

"Beans, beans are good for your heart,
the more you eat, the more you fart,
the more you fart the better you feel,
so eat beans with every meal"

I knew I shouldn't have grown so many!

And I haven't noticed any significant difference in farting!

Frozen enough beans to last for months and still picking them on a daily basis.

All grown from saved seed, Cobra is the variety.

 

I grew some blue lake bean from the seed swap parcel,really nice,ive also got enorma but no beans yet so cant comment

 

Any 'wind' ?

 

Only from the Aloo Dum trial i made for the potato glut

 

Ahh Beans, I have never had so many, luv em, eating them every day and the good thing is No Calories, To date I have salted 3 large Kilner jars. The Must Have is a very handy gadget for slicing it is called a"Krisk" French style bean slicer £4.99 available at Lakeland made in Australia, Went into town yesterday and picked up a couple for friends John Lewis had sold out, I got mine couple of months ago after reading the reviews 5 stars and watching all the flowers on the beans thought going to have a bumper crop. Dear husband has sliced 3 huge bowls musta been 25lbs...thinks the gadget is great, Loved the poem....Vince made my morning.

 

Growing some Fasold french beans this year and have never seen beans so long before.

 

I salted some beans last year, not sure if right what`s your recipe please Rosie, I love beans, eat them with every meal, no cals, as @rosietutu says, trouble is not much "cooking" in this heat, and the season is short, I hate commercial frozen beans, no comparison, I never blanch mine @Webmaster .
I had mine from the seed swap 2 or 3 years ago, lovely long stringless beans, I don`t think there was a variety on them, I always leave the last half dozen for next years seeds.

 

This is what I love about gardening, that there are so many ways to get the same end result and everyone has their own method or way.

All fresh from the plot veg has bacteria and enzymes present in them that need to be broken down before freezing, this is best done by blanching. Blanching helps to "lock in" flavour/colour/nutrients along with killing bacteria that will start to degrade the food during the thawing process.

To blanch veg, plunge into boiling water and wait for the pan to start boiling again (must come to the re-boil inside a minute, if it does not, blanch smaller amounts) and count the blanch time from there. When time is up remove the veg from the water and plunge into cold water to cool rapidly. Ice water is best but not essential as a bowl sat under a running cold tap will suffice. I only use ice water myself for Asparagus as that is so easily overcooked.

Bean blanching time: 2 mins.

When cool, chill in the fridge for 5 or 6 hours or overnight, then portion and freeze on your freezers highest setting. When you need to use the veg, slow defrosting is best which means overnight in the fridge.

The blanching preserves flavour, colour and nutrients along with dealing with bacteria and enzymes. The chilling in the fridge helps the freezer, so it does not work too hard and the quick freezing, slow defrosting preserves cell structure and maintains the max amount of vitamin C.

This is how I was taught when at college training to be a chef and doing the necessary "food Science" part of the C&G qualifications that I gained.

The restaurant and home will most of the time do things differently, who is right is subjective and could be discussed for eons. Try the differing methods and find which works for you and gives the best results. I've only typed this out because I have the training behind me.

Steve...

 

No pun intended but the wind killed all of mine stone dead

 

Salting Runner beans, Layer sliced beans, layer of salt up to the top of the jar
Top up in a couple of days as the salt draws out the moisture, Old fashion way before freezers, my mother used to do them like that, they do keep their colour and crispness, There is a video on Utube on how to do it.

 

I know Shiney but I just couldn't resist.

 

Mine have taken ages to start climbing, and even now only half of them have started ... and they look a lot less "vigorous" than both my climbing French and Runners.

Mine you they are doing better than the "Blue Lake" Climbing French from Premier Seeds which are clearly Dwarf French instead. And the beans are Yellow so I don't suppose they are even Blue Lake ...