Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Borlotti on July 20, 2017, 16:33:25
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Had 3 runner beans, which were delicious 2 days ago, and with all the rain went to the allotment but no beans, but they are flowering well. Little Miss Impatient. Picked another yellow courgette, and the raspberries that I cut right down are just starting to produce. Hopefully the heavy rain will mean beans soon.
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We've had 2 meals off mine. I look at them and I can't believe that I grew them. Just wait till I pick my first sweet corn! :tongue3:
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I have had a few beans: I have been showering them with water, but now it has rained a bit the flowers are setting rather than dropping off. There is a promise of a lot more beans in a few days time.
Mrs Lewis's climbing French has been doing a good job while I wait.
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came back from holiday last weekend to discover lots of nice beans, which have lasted me several days this week. lots more by the weekend.
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Had my first picking of Cobra this week, although I think some of them must have been there last weekend and I missed them - they were all at the bottom of the plants.
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I've been picking Cobra since 29. June and Tenderstar since 16. July and have already frozen enough of both varieties to last the coming winter. I don't think I'll grow Tenderstar next year - it shed its flowers for a long time before deciding to give me beans to harvest and even now the pods don't grow very long, not more than 15-18cm. They have a good flavour though!
Tricia :wave:
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Think I'm going to give up on runners, the slugs eat them as fast than as I can plant them. The few I have left have a few flowers on so I may get something this year, fingers crossed.
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:icon_cheers: i had two carrier bags full so far
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Had my first picking of Cobra this week, although I think some of them must have been there last weekend and I missed them - they were all at the bottom of the plants.
There are always one or two hiding in the foliage. I went over one row this morning after my wife had scoured it three or four times and I still found half a dozen lurkers. After several weeks of very little or no rain here in Shropshire, we're having a glorious downpour today and my water butts are full again.
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as the school holidays have started here on the sunshine coast the population nearly trebles so my young daughter sell runner beans from the front of our house tomorrow she has beetroot, chillies flat french beans ,cabbages runner beans , courgettes and apricots from a table outside our house bless her she charges £1 per bag i bagged up 150 bags of stuff tonight for her little venture shes only 9 bless her ill let you all know how see gets on by this time next year will be millionaires lol to coin a phrase
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I got a flower bucket full earlier in the week and armed with my trusty bean stringer/slicer they are now all in the freezer but another handful went towards dinner, lovely fresh taste this time of year. Had to forgo the courgettes so they are now getting big like marrows. But it is the allotment open day tomorrow so they will go in the boxes of veg for giving away to the entertainers which is mostly my morris dancing team.
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ace, do you blanch these stripped beans of yours? I did chopped and blanched last year but ended up hating them. I am thinking that those stripped beans, I have a stripper, would be better as the strips would vanish into soups and casseroles. I don`t like frozen beans as they are but am succeeding in making ratatouille type assortments to freeze in containers ie courgettes, shallots, tinned tomatoes etc. Very welcome through last winter, worth the effort of making them. I have had masses of runner beans this year, they were the first to start producing on the plot, moonlight with weed fabric on either side to conserve moisture
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Always blanch our beans before freezing, they are not as nice as fresh beans, but passable. As the aim is to eat our home grown all year round with any veg, freezing will have to do. When I was a nipper, we used to have salted beans, I cannot remember how they tasted, but before freezers, that is how they were kept. Does anybody do that nowadays?
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We only Slice our beans or shred then not just chop into bits thin slices seem to work well no blanching either !
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Frozen beans are pretty grim - I really don't like the texture of frost shattered cells in any fruit or vegetable. Peas and broad beans are immune (probably because of the skins), and mushrooms are too (beats me).
You would think that the experts at the frozen food companies would have fixed this if it was fixable but theirs are no better - I'd rather eat wet cardboard.
On top of that we occasionally got some odd fishy smells - even from blanched beans (though runners were worse than french).
Good quality canned (especially bottled) beans actually taste much better - almost indistinguishable from boiled fresh beans.
Since those failures we have always made a bean meal "precursor" by cooking them lightly (optional bit of tomato paste & garlic) in the pan that had fried a bit of onion, so it can be eaten as a starter and only needs a bit of meat or fish or whatever to become a proper meal.
This takes, if anything, less space in the freezer than raw or blanched beans and never fails to delight.
Cheers.
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I do admire those who do a lot of preserving. I tend to find myself throwing things out many months later when I finally get round to sorting out the freezer.
I do not like frozen beans, so once my own ones stop, then I buy those flat French beans Morocco. They squeak between your teeth when you eat them so my children have always called them Squeaky Beans. My daughter actually prefers them so this year I am growing Pantheon which are doing very well. They have been rather slow to get going but now and starting to drip with beans, flowers do not drop off. Picked a large handful yesterday. They are not affected by the backdoor bees who drill into the back of the runners so they do not form beans. It seems to be one small furry bumble bee who starts it off then then all the rest go the wrong way.
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Think I'm going to give up on runners, the slugs eat them as fast than as I can plant them. The few I have left have a few flowers on so I may get something this year, fingers crossed.
Try putting some slug traps down, terrier. You can make them from plastic bottles. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqs4YHUr7Kg
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Frozen beans are pretty grim
I agree the ones you buy, are. But I find frozen fresh ones are pretty good, just slice them and freeze on trays, no blanching.
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I fond this recipe earlier this week- haven't tried it yet but will do soon:
https://lynnecurry.com/2012/02/best-frozen-green-beans/ (https://lynnecurry.com/2012/02/best-frozen-green-beans/)
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Frozen beans are pretty grim
I agree the ones you buy, are. But I find frozen fresh ones are pretty good, just slice them and freeze on trays, no blanching.
Also let your plants get as big as you can before setting them out - two or three pairs of leaves, 12" - 18" tall: they will be tougher and less attractive to slugs. Ok, so that's what you do already - you need to change your slugs!
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today a fellow plot holder told me how she stores her runners and keeps them for weeks like this wash them shake the excess water off put them in a bag stand them in the fridge so the stem part is down and they are suppose to last for ages ive tried some today so i will leave them in the fridge for as long as they last and see just how long they will store for anyone tried this ?
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Tried the above recipe today- definitely an improvement on the usual mushiness. Had it with bread but think it woud go well with pasta. smaller beans worked better in terms of crunch.
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If I get enough this year, I will eat them or give them away. Have tried freezing them, with blanching or not, and still the taste was rubbish. Not too many yet, so may change my mind, with all the rain today.
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I cooked my mountain of beans, shredded, on friday evening, kind of like a ratatouille. with whatever courgettes I had gathered over three days plus shallots, garlic and a tin of tomatoes, oregano and frozen parsley and some wine. Let them simmer very slowly for 90 minutes and then left them to cool all night and put them in the fridge for another whole day. to let the flavour develop. I packed six boxes to freeze yesterday and left some out for today, thinking I would bake it with added fish but I was in a hurry and just put two slices of halloumi in a dry pan and had those toasted halloumi with the cold ratatouille. It was gorgeous
Tomorrow I will go and pick again and also again on thurday and there should be enough beans and courgettes to make another few boxes full. I am not freezing any beans as pure beans this year. That ratatouille or whatever version I can make is far far nicer
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We too now prefer to make ratatouille or such like and freeze that rather than the runner beans alone. I've not had any runner beans yet this year, though!
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I've just found a big jar I forgot we had so I am going to salt some beans tomorrow, just to see what they are like later in the year. Loads of beans that are going spare anyway, so apart from a bag of salt nothing wasted. The old Women's Institute book suggests making a bucketful. Just a jar this year though.
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I used to salt beans but using brine, never liked them either but its a good way of preserving rather than using freezer space. Better than that was dehydrating them and popping them into soups, it didn`t change the flavour, like freezing or brining. This year, however, I am going down the ratat route as these were incredibly useful last winter, especially for CBA times, having to cook for only myself almost all of the time.
I went to the allotment last night after all, it was still light enough and brought a big bag of beans home, two courgettes, smallish ones and a sweet tender duncan cabbage, medium sized after stripping. They are all making another ratat just now, this time I added the usual parsley, shallots, garlic, wine and tomatoes but not oregano. I added mediterranean herbs which are entirely different to oregano, they have fennel seeds in them, which go nicely with cabbage
Looks as though I am going to have enough of this instant vegetable food for the whole winter. There are plenty of young beans hanging and several tiny courgettes. It is good for soup basis, casseroles and quiches as well as lovely on its own
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Picked my beans, came home, put the beans down to open the door and the dogs started stealing them and running under the caravan to eat them. I chased them out and the spaniel cocked its leg. Guess where? No beans today.
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I once had a very lovely spicey tomato and green bean dish in Istanbul. I might try recreating it and trying to freeze that.
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At last I'm getting to pick some runners, albeit small, but I've got loads of tiny beans on the plants, whoopeeee!
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I just removed and chopped 2 plants for my hotbin. A few flowers left on the other 4. Tbh am so glad to be finishing with them, its been overload, although a nice overload and am well stocked with frozen product for all through autumn and winter
Good luck terrier
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I once had a very lovely spicey tomato and green bean dish in Istanbul. I might try recreating it and trying to freeze that.
If the recipe is successful, can you share it with us please?
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I once had a very lovely spicey tomato and green bean dish in Istanbul. I might try recreating it and trying to freeze that.
Although this is Greek- it is delicious and possibly very similar to what you have in mind:
https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/greek-style-green-beans (https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/greek-style-green-beans)
The key is to be very patient and don't stir the pot (maybe that is a life lesson in itself).
Also- it freezes very well...
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I once had a very lovely spicey tomato and green bean dish in Istanbul. I might try recreating it and trying to freeze that.
Although this is Greek- it is delicious and possibly very similar to what you have in mind:
https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/greek-style-green-beans (https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/greek-style-green-beans)
The key is to be very patient and don't stir the pot (maybe that is a life lesson in itself).
Also- it freezes very well...
I made something much like that at the weekend - delicious with roast chicken - and freezed more.
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few beans today
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I put out some runners but so far they are rubbish, getting a couple of beans on them now. I have got quite a good pick from Cobra (in my mind, the best bean out of the lot, always reliable and I find that the climbing beans are much easier to pick!) and also some Neckarskonigin that I got from Lidl (about 50p a packet!)! They make like a small runner bean, a flattish bean, climbs like Cobra. Have to pick them small but they were tasty and there are loads growing. Only a few weeks from sowing to harvest. This year I was very good with the beans, tried to sow every fortnight and as they went in later, they missed the extreme heatwaves we have had. Been eating beans for about ten days now, quite plenty for us two.