They are great cooked fresh and if I have room in the freezer, I like picking them once the beans are big and the pods just start to go leathery, but before the beans start to dry. I pod and freeze, when you want to use them there is no need to pre-soak but they still need the full cooking time as if they were fresh. If short of freezer space, similar to alkanet, leave on the vine as long as possible but then finish drying inside and then once fully dry put them in jam jars and store in a cupboard.