Allotments 4 All

has anyone had experience in treating runner beans the same way as the french/borlotti types? that is letting the beans grow semiripe in the pods and eating them like flageolets?
I have just tried it with a few of my very poor crop of runners and I thought the flavour was sensational. but the pods were much more difficult to shell than the borlotti-variety.
surely I could have waited a little longer, but then the beans might have grown a thick skin, just like an old broad bean.
any ideas, which runner-varieties might be best suited for this method?

and you managed to open the pods allright?
just as easy as the french beans?

well, thanks.
quick one, that.
bye

Like a lot of other people I'm going to give Borlotti beans a go next year - theyr'e very 'of the moment' and seem to have been in all the magazines.

I guess they will be next years 'Butternut Squash'.

Wardy my ancient italian plot neighbours have been causing sucking-in of teeth and tut-tutting with their borlotti harvest (all they do is let them go over, tsk tsk).
My borlottis were late in and flowering when theirs were already hung up to dry! Forget this planting by the Moon, I am going to plant by the Neighbours ;D

I usually pick them semiripe. they only need a few minutes cooking. or blanch and freeze. they freeze very well. You can treat other French climbing varieties the same way. just as good but not quite so trendy.
To harvest them in their dry state, I don´t think I would go to the trouble of growing them. Around here, they are so cheap to buy.
But  flageolets, (semi-dried) - you very rarely see those in the markets.
But you wait- the next big fad will be runner beans as flageolets. Much better still,
judging by the few I´ve had so far.

OK wardy, you got a deal, soon as my neighbours start planting I'll spread the word!

I put an order in with Seeds of Italy and it arrived today ;D but I seem to have ordered some seeds I already have ??? so will have to find room for industrial quantitites of borlotti and squash next year :-[ Bet this never happens to other people ;)

Don't forget to buy some cannelini beans too, bean-lovers!

I plant them between the borlottis - my cannelinis are dwarf - and I have lots of phacelia in the area too, to attract the pollinators...it's a pretty sight! (Tut tutting old allotment scrunters can kiss my patootie)

Just for you Wardy:

'Cannellino':

http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1502

Don't worry - I'm always planting dwarf beans at the bottom of 8' canes! Here's a climbing Borlotti:

http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130

Quote...sorry TM if I upset your finer feelings 

>:(  ;)  :)

(One day you'll see the light)

I got my Organic Gardening Catalogue a few weeks ago. In fact I got my seed order a couple of days ago. Get with it Daddy-O!

As for big vegans - I'm 6' 5" tall - so it hasn't inhibited my growth...but each to their own. :)

What a coincidence...today on Radio 2, Clarissa Dickson-Wright was talking about the Radio 2 Lottie with Jeremy Vine and a question was asked regarding Runner Beans that had dried out. Her recommendation was to chuck them in a casserole with a Ham Hock or similar.  Better get over to the lottie and harvest those dried runners ;D

or better still, get them before they´re completely dry. less floury but very strongly flavoured. ten times more interesting then the bland  "proper" borlotti.

So, let me get this straight.  You eat the seedy bit of the past it bean and chuck out the poddy bit ?  Ok for stews and the like.
Also has anyone tried growing bean that they have bought as a 'stew mix' dried selection ?  I thought I read about it here.

I don´t dry mine. If I´ve got a lot (as with borlottis)
I blanch and freeze them.
I think they are nicer that way. and of course they don´t need soaking. a few minutes will cook them.

I always use the white flowering runnerbeans for drying. Theytaste the best, I think. I dry them and use them in soups, stews etc :D

I grow Desiree which taste and look exactly like butter beans, really sweet and if let go cold after cooking are brill in salads.

Wonder how that bloke's supermarket dried peas are getting on on the Big Dig.  We may never know.