I had eaten bean as green beans and as dried beans, but never before tried them a fresh beans.
I have a climbing french variety called Odriscoll (HSL) which produce very early, but the quality of the green bean is not wonderful, you have to pick it very young or it goes stringy. But when there is nothing else it is great.
Once other beans come along I just leave it be. Last year I collect the seeds for resowing. But this year decided to shell them and eat once the beans were about half an inch long, they are wonderful. This variety produces quite big beans. They are a bit like the soya beans you can buy frozen but much much better, not unlike broad beans. Seems I have been missing out.
Can anyone recommend some good varieties for doing this?
OH shells out beans from the pods to eat fresh, like peas... it's not a great idea as they all contain something (Riacin?) which isn't too good. :-\
I did cook them!! Delicious.
All raw beans are poisonous. I understood that they contain a trypsin inibitor. It stops the body using the amino acid trypsin. I think this includes peas but levels low so you can manage a few.
I remember there was a craze for slow cookers a few years ago and some people cooked chili con carne containing dried kidney beans (runner beans) but the cooking was not hot enough and several people died. I believe that modern slow cookers cook at a slightly higher temperature, but it is still a good idea to soak the beans overnight.
Re kidney beans in Chilli and slow cookers.
If using tinned red kidney beans you do have to rinse them under cold water before adding to the pot for the last 45 mins of the cooking time.
Raw beans poisonous ! Now you tell me - I sampled a few on the plot as I picked them :o
I think you are fine eating a few, especially if you are fit. But it you eat a lot and have one foot on a banana skin then they are not a good idea!! It is only the beans not the green pods.
I would never use dried kidney beans in a slow cooker without giving them a soak a fast boil for 10-12 mins and cooking them first. I dont care how much higher a temperature a slow cooker cooks at!
Duke