Good evening,

The runner beans are growing nicely; however I've got a number of them that
have grown too large and I haven't picked them because they'll almost
certainly be 'stringy'.

Is it best to remove them and throw them on the compost heap, or if I let
them grow can I eat the actual bean? - in the same way as you can eat whole
broad beans when they're very young or leave them to grow into actual beans?

Many thanks,


Andrew

"Andrew Ross" wrote in message
...
Good evening,

The runner beans are growing nicely; however I've got a number of them
that
have grown too large and I haven't picked them because they'll almost
certainly be 'stringy'.

Is it best to remove them and throw them on the compost heap, or if I
let
them grow can I eat the actual bean? - in the same way as you can eat
whole
broad beans when they're very young or leave them to grow into actual
beans?

Many thanks,


Andrew

Best to remove them so the energy will be directed into the development
of the rest of your crop.

Later in the season you can leave a few go to seed for next years crop.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

The message
from "Andrew Ross" contains these words:

The runner beans are growing nicely; however I've got a number of them that
have grown too large and I haven't picked them because they'll almost
certainly be 'stringy'.

Is it best to remove them and throw them on the compost heap, or if I let
them grow can I eat the actual bean?

You *CAN* eat them, but the skins are very tough. Leave some at the end
of the season and try them - or save them for next year's seed. It's
best to pick beans before the vine invests lots of energy in bringing
the beans to maturity - energy which would be better invested in fresh
youn beans.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Andrew Ross" wrote in message
...
: Good evening,
:
: The runner beans are growing nicely; however I've got a number of them
that
: have grown too large and I haven't picked them because they'll almost
: certainly be 'stringy'.
:
: Is it best to remove them and throw them on the compost heap, or if I let
: them grow can I eat the actual bean? - in the same way as you can eat
whole
: broad beans when they're very young or leave them to grow into actual
beans?
:
: Many thanks,
:
You're not supposed to eat them without boiling them first but I know some
do eat them and have no harmful effects. You can allow them to mature on the
plant to keep the seed for next year or remove them to encourage more flower
and fresh beans

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 20:26:46 +0000 (UTC), "Robert" wrote:
"Andrew Ross" wrote
: if I let
: them grow can I eat the actual bean? - in the same way as you can eat
whole
: broad beans when they're very young or leave them to grow into actual
beans?

You're not supposed to eat them without boiling them first

For at least 10 mins ??
I could be wrong but I think I read somewhere that that applied to the
coloured beans, the red/black/pink seeds only.
I think the white ones (Czar etc) are ok.

but I know some
do eat them and have no harmful effects.

Depends upon quantity perhaps ?
The warnings that I read were addressed to vegetarians and sprouting-
seed eaters who do that sort of thing often !

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 20:26:46 +0000 (UTC), "Robert" wrote:
You're not supposed to eat them without boiling them first

I did some googling ( because I am growing various beans both for
green beans and for seed) :---

Phytohaemagglutinin
Red Kidney Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Poisoning,
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap43.html

Sounds frightening !
but section 6 of that page seems to suggest that it is not common,
and 9 suggests that it may not have been due to the beans anyway !

In article ,
(WaltA) writes:
| On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 20:26:46 +0000 (UTC), "Robert" wrote:
| You're not supposed to eat them without boiling them first
|
| I did some googling ( because I am growing various beans both for
| green beans and for seed) :---
|
| Phytohaemagglutinin
| Red Kidney Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Poisoning,
| http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap43.html
|
| Sounds frightening !
| but section 6 of that page seems to suggest that it is not common,
| and 9 suggests that it may not have been due to the beans anyway !

The reason that it is rare is that the toxin occurs in mature
beans, and much less or not at all in immature ones, and they
require extensive cooking to make them palatable. A red kidney
bean boiled for a mere 10 minutes is edible but not eatable!

The one normal circumstance that can cause the problem is beans
cooked in a slow cooker on low, where the temperature may stay
at 70-80 Celcius for long enough to cook the bean - which is a
good many hours. Hence the need to boil them first, or use the
cooker on high.

I don't know when the toxin develops, but I doubt VERY much that
any bean that is still eatable raw or lightly cooked contains
enough of the toxin to matter. That is certainly true of broad
and soy beans.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
mature
beans,
snip,
and they
require extensive cooking to make them palatable.

I think that you have never tasted a fresh mature bean seed straight
off the plant in late summer/early autumn !
I think you are still in that time warp when you discovered the
hessian sack of dried beans in the back of the covered waggon that
your granpappy had just driven across the high plains on his way to
the gold fields of California

The one normal circumstance that can cause the problem is beans
cooked in a slow cooker on low, where the temperature may stay
at 70-80 Celcius for long enough to cook the bean - which is a
good many hours. Hence the need to boil them first, or use the
cooker on high.

Yep, I'd go with that,, if we were talking about long-dried, to within
an inch of their lives, pulses.
but I dont think that the OP had that kind in mind ?

That is certainly true of broad

that may be so, but it aint in context

and soy beans.

dunno, not tried them, dont think they do too well in our climate,
Some folk promote new cultivars that pander to modern desires, but I
still await actual results.

In article ,
WaltA wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
mature
beans,
snip,
and they
require extensive cooking to make them palatable.

I think that you have never tasted a fresh mature bean seed straight
off the plant in late summer/early autumn !

Yes, I have. Runner, French and broad. In all cases, they are
hard (though not like dried ones) and taste strongly 'starchy',
which few people like. While they need less cooking to eliminate
those characteristics than dried ones do, it is still 10-15 minutes
of boiling (rather than the 30-45 minutes for even soaked dried
beans).

Are you sure that you are not confusing fully swollen beans with
mature ones? There is a considerable difference.

What I don't know is whether the swollen but immature beans contain
much of the toxin. It is very possible that it develops with full
maturity - or it is possible that it develops earlier.

I think you are still in that time warp when you discovered the
hessian sack of dried beans in the back of the covered waggon that
your granpappy had just driven across the high plains on his way to
the gold fields of California

How did you guess his occupation? :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
WaltA wrote:
[...]
your granpappy had just driven across the high plains on his way
to
the gold fields of California

How did you guess his occupation? :-)

Utterly OT, but maybe somebody else also likes squirrelling away bits
of irrelevantiana about people they sort-of know. One of my
great-grandfathers _was_ a gold-prospector in Oz: never made a
fortune, but survived, and fathered nine children on his occasional
visits home.

--
Mike.

On 17 Aug 2005 08:39:01 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
Yes, I have. Runner, French and broad. In all cases, they are
hard

Rubbish !
and may I remind the house Mr.Speaker of the post I made earlier about
soaked and sprouted beans consumed in vast quantity by the
long-haired-flower-behind-ear-bead-wearing brigade once-upon-a-time
/mace-waving

(though not like dried ones) and taste strongly 'starchy',

Umm, perhaps yes I suppose you could describe them slightly thus, but
I would not have !

which few people like.

speak for yourself ! ( but bear in mind that I am talking now in
particular of the Czar white runners (as per (one of) my original
posts) which I used to grow in quantity for exactly this purpose.

While they need less cooking to eliminate
those characteristics than dried ones do, it is still 10-15 minutes

exactly, You're fluffing now )
if you remember, I did say 10min ?? The ?? was meant to indicate
"about" "am I right" "to taste"
So, now that we are bun-fighting over the details I propose dried-bean
filled socks at 10 paces, dawn tomorrow, and I conscript Rusty to be
my second
( Psst, Rusty - bring your home-made cannon )

Are you sure that you are not confusing fully swollen beans with
mature ones?

Nope, I made no distinction, neither did Andrew or Robert, I believe,
I was just casting thoughts to the wind (so to speak, pun and beans
not intended ! honest) for them to snatch and run with to google if
they so desired.
But I assumed that we all knew that Andrew was awaiting his beans with
glee and keen interest and was unlikly to be drying them for
posterity.

What I don't know is whether the swollen but immature beans contain
much of the toxin.

No, me neither, but it would be a good project for our next PhD ?
I would assume, with not the lest bit of evidence,( but I'm not a
govmint minister, nor am I writing for Nature or Old Scientist so I
can be cavalier) that it would increase as the colour developed,
linear, cosinusoidally or exponentially I know not, but I doubt the
latter.

It is very possible that it develops with full
maturity - or it is possible that it develops earlier.

Quite so.

your granpappy had just driven across the high plains on his way to
the gold fields of California
How did you guess his occupation? :-)

perhaps because I'm an old has-bean as well ?

right then, sun is out, garden is inviting,
I declare I have nothing further to say (errr, maybe ;-) )

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:42:58 +0100, Mike Lyle wrote:

great-grandfathers _was_ a gold-prospector in Oz: never made a
fortune, but survived, and fathered nine children on his occasional
visits home.

We have an old Oz opel miner in our family, not married and no
(known) children.

In article ,
(WaltA) writes:
| On 17 Aug 2005 08:39:01 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
| Yes, I have. Runner, French and broad. In all cases, they are
| hard
|
| Rubbish !
| and may I remind the house Mr.Speaker of the post I made earlier about
| soaked and sprouted beans consumed in vast quantity by the
| long-haired-flower-behind-ear-bead-wearing brigade once-upon-a-time
| /mace-waving

Mostly mung beans - not now classified as even in genus Phaseolus.
I have never heard of runner beans being eaten that way, but did
try doing it with (white) French ones once. The actual beans
remained unpalatable even after sprouting.

| (though not like dried ones) and taste strongly 'starchy',
|
| Umm, perhaps yes I suppose you could describe them slightly thus, but
| I would not have !

Well, if they taste only slightly starchy, they are not mature.
The physiology of Phaseolus beans is that they develop starch as
they mature.

| While they need less cooking to eliminate
| those characteristics than dried ones do, it is still 10-15 minutes
|
| exactly, You're fluffing now )

May I quote the paragraph from which you selectively snipped bits?

The reason that it is rare is that the toxin occurs in mature
beans, and much less or not at all in immature ones, and they
require extensive cooking to make them palatable. A red kidney
bean boiled for a mere 10 minutes is edible but not eatable!

A swollen but immature French bean is a pale shadow of its final
colour - black ones are not black and red ones are not red.

| if you remember, I did say 10min ?? The ?? was meant to indicate
| "about" "am I right" "to taste"

I hope that your souffles are as fluffy as your postings!

| Are you sure that you are not confusing fully swollen beans with
| mature ones?
|
| Nope, I made no distinction, neither did Andrew or Robert, I believe,
| I was just casting thoughts to the wind (so to speak, pun and beans
| not intended ! honest) for them to snatch and run with to google if
| they so desired.

Well, if you are going to start assigning new meanings to English
words, there isn't much hope for you! To quote you:

Nick Maclaren wrote:
mature
beans,
snip,
and they
require extensive cooking to make them palatable.

I think that you have never tasted a fresh mature bean seed straight
off the plant in late summer/early autumn !


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (WaltA) contains these words:
On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:42:58 +0100, Mike Lyle wrote:

great-grandfathers _was_ a gold-prospector in Oz: never made a
fortune, but survived, and fathered nine children on his occasional
visits home.

We have an old Oz opel miner in our family, not married and no
(known) children.

Coo! I didn't know they were mined: I thought they were made in Germany.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Oh gosh, are we still here ?!

Mostly mung beans

No, that is ordinary,
most(?) people do mung beans

Sigh.

I hope that your souffles are as fluffy as your postings!

Silly,
Anyway, I never make them, I leave that to the domestic staff !