Topic: borlotti beans

[ACE]

I grew them for the first time this year they now play a big part in my healthier diet. I stripped about half a plant this year and have already got about a pound of beans. I doubt they are true borlotti as the packet said dwarf and they were climbers but the red striped pods look good but the beans are a lot larger than I thought they would be taking my measurements by the ones we have been buying. 60 odd plants are going to need a big space to store them. I have a dehydrator which will dry them properly. The plants have stopped flowering and the bottom pods are getting eaten by mice etc so I am harvesting the rest this week. A few are still a pale green colour inside the pods but most are speckled red and cream. I take it the green are still edible. Made some baked beans yesterday as I had a load of tomatoes to use up. Very nice and nutty but lacking something so I have chopped up a few slivers of chorizo to see if that will make them a bit tastier.  We boiled the beans for an hour, juiced up the tomatoes with a shallot, sea salt, pepper, and cheese plus half a potato to thicken it up and then cooked it all together. Any tips on how to make it tastier.

[Digeroo]

I have a lovely baked bean recipe.  Soak dried beans overnight in a dish and discard the water.  Do not use a cup or mug, because they will expand and you cannot get them out, 
Not necessary for beans which are still green. 

Beans, any variety, including broad beans.
Tin tomatoes or fresh de-skinned
Tomato can full water
Bacon couple of slices or more if you fancy - optional Cooking bacon is fine
Carrots, chewed by deer will do
Celery the leafy bits will do as will any tough ones from the allotment
Onion optional , a couple a slug has eaten half will be fine, or any that have flowered and will not store.
Two or three eating apples cores and skinned, the ones which fell of the tree will be fine or small carton of apple juice
1 Teaspoon dried ginger or two if you like a bit of bite
1 Teaspoon mixed spice
teaspoon dried cinnamon optional
Nutmeg optional
Parsley
Bay leaves
Any other herbs you have to hand
Salt optional not needed if you use salty bacon
Pepper
A little butter or oil for frying

Remove any slugs or other varmits from the vegetables.
Fry bacon, onion and vegetables and apples

Add the tomatoes and everything else

Pressure cook for 15 minutes.  Or bake in the oven until beans are soft.

[ACE]

left overnight in the fridge and today they have developed a fuller flavour.

[galina]

left overnight in the fridge and today they have developed a fuller flavour.

In the USA they add molasses/black treacle.  Just a tablespoonful so not to overpower but give depth of flavour

[ACE]

I deliberately left out any sugar or derivatives, I do not like canned ones because I seemed to taste the sweetness. They just need to stand for a day after cooking and they take up all the flavours of the other ingredients. Trouble is I made too many and with the freezer full of our produce, I am hoping they will keep in the fridge for a few days.

[Digeroo]

I only use apple/apple juice for sweeting.  My recipe was developed for my daughter who has a problem with sucrose so cannot eat tinned ones.  Black treacle is out as well.

But also because our apple tree goes into major production so there are hundreds to be eaten. 

[ACE]

 A quick couple of  questions. I have taken up all the vines as the vermin are getting at the beans. Loads of them are just falling out of the pods, but some are still not really ready. The ones that are not quite ready will be boiled and frozen. The 'ripe' beans still need drying a bit more to store safely, I will use the dehydrator but I do not know how long they need to be in there. Don't suggest hanging vines, using window sills etc. There will be close on 25 kilos when done so I do not have the room for traditional drying methods. How long in the dryer do you think they will need and is there a test I can do to see if they are done.

[galina]

Hammer test - dent or shatter.  Dent = too moist to store. 

[Vinlander]

In my experience bean and pea seeds are the only veg that can be frozen raw with 100% success - I assume it is the skin that makes the difference.

It really is more trouble than it's worth to boil them first because the big advantage of undried beans is that they are much quicker to cook. In a stew they are ready when the carrots etc. are done.

You also get much less frost in the bag.

Cheers

[essexkit]

The British Larder  website has a good recipe for Borlotti bean and Courgette Hummus....cooks in 30 minutes using glut of both!