Topic: Beans - large or small?

[Borderers1951]

My beans (both runner and French) are now starting to produce pods in large numbers.  This is purely our personal choice but we pick when the pods are a little under full size in the case of French beans and still quite small in the case of runners.  Being of the post-wear generation, both my wife and myself look with horror at large, tough, stringy pods.  We put it down to a knock-on effect from wartime food, which had to be grown to be as bulky as possible to fill stomachs.

Does anyone else prefer smaller and more  tender beans to the large ones many seem to prefer?

[pumkinlover]

Totally agree. We really only like the young small beans and if they are picked regular they keep cropping. OH is not post war but feels the same.

[Jayb]

Agreen tender beans are the only way to go 

Runners are my favourites 
But give me a stringy bean and it sends me retching! I try and pick as soon as they get to fully formed or just under and eat fresh, I find they can go stringy if kept in the fridge to long. Anything looking a little old or too large and heaven forbid lumpy, goes straight to compost.

However everything changed and I've fallen in love with the Greasy and Fall beans that I've tried, they have all been delicious. Most can be eaten at the green bean stage, also the full stage (when pods are still green and tender and the seed inside is plump and near on fully formed) and also left a little longer to shell for the plump beans inside. They do have side strings, which are more like zippers and easy to remove, the actual green bean (apart from the side strings) remains tender and doesn't become fibrous as some regular French and Runner beans do. Yum!

[Borlotti]

I pick my runner beans small, they are delicious, hopefully there will be soon today as we had had plenty of rain.

[Tee Gee]

I don't grow runner beans for that very reason ...today they can be lovely tomorrow they are stringy, add to that if I miss some today they are like ropes tomorrow...cure....don't grow them...I prefer climbing french beans...pencil shaped no strings and they crop equally as,  if not better, than runner beans, especially Cobra.

Then add to that in the late fifties I was in digs and the landlady used to grow them meaning in the growing season my dinner plate was piled high with them, I think this is the main reason I went off them.

 I could say a lot more about those dinners but I do not want to put anyone of you off yours!

[Digeroo]

I certainly pick my runners young before they go stringy.  Any that I miss and get too big end up in the compost bin.  There seems to be a fine balance between flavour and stringy.  Too small no taste, too big too stringy.  I certainly despair of the supermarket ones which I think have been picked several days too late.   
My mother used to put beans through a gadget with metal prongs and it if did not go through easily she threw the bean away.  My mother in law grew runner beans right through the war and hers were never stringy and always delicious. 
I also enjoy the flat French ones and I am particularly pleased with Pantheon.  According to Mr Fothergill they come before the runners, but I have not found that.  They were very slow to start flowering.  But now are dripping in beans.
Looking forward soon to Marvel of Venice.  And I like Mrs Lewis,s very small and young.

[Duke Ellington]

I only grow French beans and Borlotti beans. The borlotti beans I grow to a size that I can pod them, blanch and freeze for winter soups.

Duke

[johhnyco15]

i like mine by the barrow load

[Paulh]

Absolutely agree. I pick runner beans at about 9" long, when the skin starts to roughen and an edge forms on the pod. I also grow climbing French bean "Cobra" but these have different taste and texture and a shorter season, so I wouldn't give up the runner beans for them. And I grow Borlotti beans for the beans rather than the pods. Things were late going for me this year because of a holiday in early May so they are only starting now - and I'm going away again for a week ...

[strawberry1]

small for an instant meal, then longer beans to shred and cook for winter storage in ratatouille. Never stringy ones. Only having six plants makes it easy to find the beans and they, moonlight, are producing masses of tender lovely tasting beans

[Tee Gee]

also grow climbing French bean "Cobra" but these have different taste and texture and a shorter season, so I wouldn't give up the runner beans for them.

Different taste Yes! But in my opinion a better taste,and I grow two crops a year under cover thus extending the season

The first  crop is ready earlier and the second crop  under cover crops later so I get a nice long season of fresh beans, and I freeze the surplus.

I also think that the frozen ones taste better than runners after they have been frozen

BTW My second crop is ready for planting out next week

If we are going to continue getting these mild winters I might have a go at three crops this year.

Call it a case of nothing ventured nothing gained.

[Silverleaf]

Once runners get stringy I leave them a bit longer until the actual beans are a decent size for shelling out. Yum!

[Vinlander]

I agree that all bean pods should be picked before they get any hint of stringiness, but I prefer the taste of runners when they are smaller than that - about the same size I'd pick a french.

I also do what others have said and towards the end of the season (provided the second crop of french are still going) I let any runners that got too big continue to get lumpy and then go for the beans inside - they taste best before the colour shows (as 'flageolets'), they are OK larger too but I dislike the colour in stews (especially for guests - "wtf are these?" seems to be the standard response) - that's why I always grow white seeded types that are less alarming . The white flowers also suffer less from whatever bites through the red flowers (cutter bees? or an actual pest?).

Incidentally the yellow hook/prawn climbing french beans are stringless even when they have gone lumpy - almost to the point where you'd normally shell them and eat the seeds. I was told this when I was given the seeds and it's definitely noticeable. I can't guarantee the green version is the same - they are harder to spot when picking anyway.

Can anyone suggest any others of normal shape with this advantage? especially any purple or mottled types?

Cheers.

[laurieuk]

I grow about four different lots of beans so that we keep picking for a long time' I generally grow ENORMA which get to about 15 inches before showing any sign if stringiness. I do quite a bit of judging so get used to spotting any sins of being old. Providing the beans are fast growing they stay good for a few days. It is surprizing how old some people will try and show them.

[galina]

Incidentally the yellow hook/prawn climbing french beans are stringless even when they have gone lumpy - almost to the point where you'd normally shell them and eat the seeds. I was told this when I was given the seeds and it's definitely noticeable. I can't guarantee the green version is the same - they are harder to spot when picking anyway.

Can anyone suggest any others of normal shape with this advantage? especially any purple or mottled types?

Cheers.

As Jayb said, any of the Greasy beans fall into that category, but they do have strong strings. 
http://www.heirlooms.org/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
and many other sources, they are getting quite a following.

[Tee Gee]

It is surprising how old some people will try and show them.

But they are soon found out if it is a condition of the judging to snap one

[strawberry1]

my freezer is full. just have enough room left for raspberries and I am done. I made another huge batch of beans disguised as ratatouille and I have to stop, I think I already have enough for the whole winter but I have to keep on picking, in order to keep producing young beans. Pickings will be destined for compost, I never feel guilty as it is just back to the soil. Everyone has beans in my village and family are too far away and I am not brining or making bean picalilli, those days are over for good. Beans twice a day, cold beans with salad, it`ll be beans for breakfast soon. The tops were full of bumble bees this morning

[strawberry1]

I had at least 2 lbs of small to medium beans this morning and need a bean rest, so every tiny bean,  that I could see, has been pulled off. Another three or four days and there will be masses more, they were full of bumble bees

[laurieuk]

Hi Tee Gee,  Always start by counting then snapping, I once saw maximum points awarded to peas without any open. To award max points in my opinion every pod would need to be open to make sure the peas were perfect..

[Digeroo]

especially any purple or mottled types?

One of my favourite beans is Mrs Lewis's Purple podded.  Produces loads of purple beans lovely at every stage.   They came from Heritage seed library.  They are quite big before they go stringy.   They are more cold hardly than white bean varieties.  Each flower head produces about 12 beans so it tends to drip with them.

In the past I would have offered some seeds but postage has increased.  As soon as the packet is lumpy it cannot go as a letter so the post office charge vast amounts.