Someone has been eating my borlotti beans, and it isn't me...
I grew them last year, harvested and dried them, and since then have kept them in sealed plastic freezer bags inside a plastic box in the larder. When I went to the box last night I discovered the borlotti bags were full of tiny little bugs, about 1mm long or so, with hard shells. To make matters worse, they had chewed through the plastic and were investigating the rest of the contents of the box - the rice, the lentils etc.
Has anyone else had this problem? I presume that the bugs infested the borlotti while they were on the plant and then, like malicious little Trojan horses, came along for the ride when I brought the beans into the house. More relevantly, does anyone have any ideas on how to stop this happening again?
All suggestions gratefully received...
Put them into the freezer for storage,your invaded by the bean beetle,drilling small holes in your borlotti beans.
Thanks for the insight... do you freeze them fresh or dried?
Would blanching help, since presumably the heat would kill the bugs?
I dried mine in the airing cupboard for a few weeks and then stored in air tight glas kilner jars. So far so good, used some yesterday to add to a beef casserole.
Jerry
To stop the bean weevil attacking in the first place, you can cover the crop with Enviromesh or fleece from the start and leave it on until harvest.
One of my fellow lottie holders got bean weevils the year before last, and she was left with very few usable beans. I decided to try a different trick and put all my dried beans on a baking tray in a medium-hot oven for 10 minutes. Helped them dry out and given the temperature was >100C, I figured any stowaways would have bitten the dust. Then I sealed them in a ziplock bag and put away. Seems to have worked.
moonbells
valentine, I freeze mine fresh just in case I fancy setting up a gourmet River Cafe here in Peterborough ha ha. If I got a bumper harvest I might be tempted to dry them, but I only got three bags full from my entire crop last year so awarded them freezer space ;D
I have never managed to harvest any for storage, as soon as they appear, they are cooked and served immediately with a dressing of olive oil.