I feel kind of embarrassed that I don't know the answer to this, having grown them for 7 years or more but...
When catalogues refer to 'stringless' runner beans, what do they mean exactly? I assumed the 'strings' were down the sides of the beans, so that even if you had stringy beans you could peel them off by shaving off the sides of the beans with a peeler.
But I've noticed that especially towards the end of the season, and if the beans stay too long on the plant, they get tough and inedible.
So, do 'stringless' beans have no strings down the sides of the beans or does it mean that they don't get tough and inedible as they get older?