Beans

[shirlton]

I want to grow some beans this year to use for soups and stews. I want to be able to freeze them straight from the pod.
I know that some of you already do this.
Could you please advise on which varieties and when to harvest them .

[shirlton]

[plainleaf]

what type of bean do you like:
broad beans,kidney,great northern, soy beans

beans need to be blanched be fore they are frozen.

so basically what types of bean do you like.

 

[shirlton]

We already grow broad,french and runner beans . I want some small beans That I can freeze instead of drying.

[Squash64]

Shirl, have you ever tried freezing any of the beans you already grow?  We had some runners that had gone stringy so we podded and froze them.  We didn't blanche them first, just popped them into little plastic bags and froze them.
They are lovely in soup.

[realfood]

You can freeze any type or size of bean, so I am not sure that I understand your question.

[Digeroo]

Both dwarf and climbing french freeze well.  

Soy beans do not do well  in UK, if you want fresh whole beans which can also be frozen I would recommend borlotti or odriscoll.

If you like pencil pods there are lots of dwarf ones.  

I think that lots of people get away without blanching green beans as long as they are very fresh and frozen fast.  They are not as soggy when used.

Personally I think that the flavour of frozen ones is poor but they do well in curries and stews.

We don't have great northern beans either they seem to be a variety of white beaned french bean.  2ft high plants. so I suppose we would call them dwarf.

Mrs Lewis's purple podded freeze well particularly when still small.  PM me if you would like some seed.

[manicscousers]

Shirl, I have yin/yang and borlotti if you'd like some. I think the yin/yang are non climber, won't know until I brave the seed boxes but let me know if you're interested .We just freeze straight from the pod or dry them both  ;D

[antipodes]

Are Yin Yang shelling beans?? I had some last year and ate them as green beans! Can't say they made a great impact, maybe that is why!

I often freeze what they call "demi secs" here, so Borlottis, or coco de paimpol, as long as they are only half dried. As afterwards I usually stew them, I find it is fine. Dried beans always go manky on me.

[aj]

Pinto, Borlotti, Yin Yang, Monastic Coco - where to start!

I grow loads of different varieties and I leave them on the pod to dry, harvest them once the pod is cracky and then finish drying them off indoors.

See the blog

http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/2011/12/beans-beans-and-more-beans.html

What I did with these, and it's the cheapest option; buy a bag of soup beans and just sow them in a block, and leave them until dry.

Freezing them though - I'd let them dry, then soak a large bowlful overnight, boil them until the smoosh down with a fork, and then freeze in batches for your soups. Until then, once dry, they can be stashed in jars.

As you can see from this blog post http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/search/label/bean%20project - I have loads of varieties; my absolute favourite is Black Canterbury just for it's licorice-like beans. Beautiful.

[shirlton]

We already freeze broad runners and french but I just wanted to use frozen rather than dried or tinned. I do like flagelo beans but not sure if you can grow them here.

[aj]

We already freeze broad runners and french but I just wanted to use frozen rather than dried or tinned. I do like flagelo beans but not sure if you can grow them here.

Yes you can.

Freezing beans that could be dried is a waste of energy though - but if you do want to do that, just take them before they are hard.

[pumkinlover]

I use them when the pods are going yellow but  are still rubbery/ soft.
The beans are frozen, I know what aj means about energy, but doing it this way they cook a lot quicker. So swings and roundabouts!

[Duke Ellington]

Borlotti beans are my favourite for soups. I dry some and freeze some but both end up in soups and casseroles.

Duke

[shirlton]

Thanks for all of the info. manics I would like to try some borlotti if you can spare a few. I won't have any ying yang cos I don't like bending down to pick em. :o

[manicscousers]

No problem, Shirl..I've still got your address from the roots I'm sending..the sweet cicely's looking ok  ;D
We plant the in yang beans  3 in Morrison's black buckits so we don't have to bend too far.
BTW, what was the other root I promised?  ???
will send the borlottis on monday  :)

[shirlton]

Thanks manics you already sent me an echinacia root

[manicscousers]

Shirl, 'i've just looked and the borlotti are dwarf, too  :-\

[shirlton]

Oh Well. Thanks for the offer I will have to look around ;)

[aj]

Would you like a selection of climbers that are good for shelly beans? If so, send me a PM and an SAE and I'll bung some to you.

[shirlton]

Thankyou very much aj. Have PM'd you