Like many people I have left the last pods of my runner beans unpicked to
provide seed for next year. But the pods are still very green and lush and
not drying at all. So I opened one to check the beans - they were purple -
just like the beans I sowed in the spring.
Out of curiosity I tasted one - it was superb - even raw.
Now I have a question - why are not runner beans grown to produce edible
beans? I know that the very similar red kidney beans are poisonous until
soaked in water for many hours. Is there a problem with runner beans?
thanks, Davy

"Davy" wrote in message
om...
Like many people I have left the last pods of my runner beans unpicked to
provide seed for next year. But the pods are still very green and lush
and
not drying at all. So I opened one to check the beans - they were
purple -
just like the beans I sowed in the spring.
Out of curiosity I tasted one - it was superb - even raw.
Now I have a question - why are not runner beans grown to produce edible
beans? I know that the very similar red kidney beans are poisonous until
soaked in water for many hours. Is there a problem with runner beans?
thanks, Davy

While weeding the erstwhile runner bean patch today prior to mulching it
with shreddings and letting the hens fertilise and turn it over I found a
large green pod, obviously dropped when we picked our last lot.

I opened it and it had purple beans inside so I put them in with the boiling
potatoes and we ate them with the shin beef stew.

We always eat purple beans which come from missed pods.

And we're still here :-)

Mary

In article ,
"Davy" writes:
|
| Now I have a question - why are not runner beans grown to produce edible
| beans? I know that the very similar red kidney beans are poisonous until
| soaked in water for many hours. Is there a problem with runner beans?

Almost certainly the same problem - and you have it dangerously wrong.

You must BOIL ripe red kidney beans (and, presumably, all Phaseolus
beans, including runners) for at least 5 minutes (preferably 10) to
destroy the toxin. It is unaffected by soaking, or slow cooking at
low temperatures. Most of the toxin is in the skin.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mary Fisher writes

"Davy" wrote in message
news:KdSdnQPkTMMG1qbanZ2dnUVZ8sGvnZ2d@brightview. com...
Like many people I have left the last pods of my runner beans unpicked to
provide seed for next year. But the pods are still very green and lush
and
not drying at all. So I opened one to check the beans - they were
purple -
just like the beans I sowed in the spring.
Out of curiosity I tasted one - it was superb - even raw.
Now I have a question - why are not runner beans grown to produce edible
beans? I know that the very similar red kidney beans are poisonous until
soaked in water for many hours. Is there a problem with runner beans?
thanks, Davy

While weeding the erstwhile runner bean patch today prior to mulching it
with shreddings and letting the hens fertilise and turn it over I found a
large green pod, obviously dropped when we picked our last lot.

I opened it and it had purple beans inside so I put them in with the boiling
potatoes and we ate them with the shin beef stew.

We always eat purple beans which come from missed pods.

And we're still here :-)

There seems to be some confusion as to the purpose of soaking the red
kidney beans - it is to make them edible, but not by removing the
poison, it's because they are too hard to eat before they have been
soaked. The bit that renders them non-poisonous is boiling them - even
if you're cooking them in a slow cooker, it is advisable to boil them
for 10 minutes before.

As far as I am aware, runner beans are in the same category. So Mary has
no problem because she boils them.
--
Kay

In reply to Davy ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

Like many people I have left the last pods of my runner beans
unpicked to provide seed for next year. But the pods are still very
green and lush and not drying at all. So I opened one to check the
beans - they were purple - just like the beans I sowed in the spring.
Out of curiosity I tasted one - it was superb - even raw.
Now I have a question - why are not runner beans grown to produce
edible beans? I know that the very similar red kidney beans are
poisonous until soaked in water for many hours. Is there a problem
with runner beans? thanks, Davy

IMHO runner bean beans are not as tasty as broad beans. Though when we were
kids, we used to fight over the "fairy slippers" while mum was splitting the
runners. They are very tasty raw, as you say, and to the best of my
knowledge I never died as a result of (usually) winning the fairy slipper
fight.

In article ,
"Uncle Marvo" writes:
|
| IMHO runner bean beans are not as tasty as broad beans. Though when we were
| kids, we used to fight over the "fairy slippers" while mum was splitting the
| runners. They are very tasty raw, as you say, and to the best of my
| knowledge I never died as a result of (usually) winning the fairy slipper
| fight.

I do not know at what stage the toxin develops, but I suspect that it
is associated with ripening. Those would have been very unripe.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Now done a bit of online research.......

It seems that runner beans contain the same toxin as kidney beans but to a
much lesser extent. The toxin, in the levels found in kidney beans, causes
about 24 hours of vomiting and diarrhoea - but no lasting harm. Soaking the
beans in water for about 5 hours, discarding the water, boiling for at least
10 mins reduces the toxin to safe levels. The soaking also leaches out the
sugar that causes flatulence after eating beans. So if you don't take these
precautions then you may suffer both diarrhoea and flatulence - best not to
think about it.

Because in Britain kidney beans are only available as dried beans and
therefore have to be boiled to make them edible, there are few recorded
cases of red kidney bean poisoning - mostly due to people adding the beans
to slow casserole cookers which don't boil the beans. I could find no
reported cases of poisoning from runner beans.

Such a shame since I thought the raw runner beans tasted superb.

Davy


"Davy" wrote in message
om...
Like many people I have left the last pods of my runner beans unpicked to
provide seed for next year. But the pods are still very green and lush
and
not drying at all. So I opened one to check the beans - they were
purple -
just like the beans I sowed in the spring.
Out of curiosity I tasted one - it was superb - even raw.
Now I have a question - why are not runner beans grown to produce edible
beans? I know that the very similar red kidney beans are poisonous until
soaked in water for many hours. Is there a problem with runner beans?
thanks, Davy

In reply to Nick Maclaren ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

In article ,
"Uncle Marvo" writes:

IMHO runner bean beans are not as tasty as broad beans. Though when
we were kids, we used to fight over the "fairy slippers" while mum
was splitting the runners. They are very tasty raw, as you say, and
to the best of my knowledge I never died as a result of (usually)
winning the fairy slipper fight.

I do not know at what stage the toxin develops, but I suspect that it
is associated with ripening. Those would have been very unripe.

According to most of what I read these days I died about 47 years ago. But I
didn't. Does that make me special, or does it make most of what I read these
days a bag of propaganda?

In reply to Nick Maclaren ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

In article ,
"Uncle Marvo" writes:

IMHO runner bean beans are not as tasty as broad beans. Though when
we were kids, we used to fight over the "fairy slippers" while mum
was splitting the runners. They are very tasty raw, as you say, and
to the best of my knowledge I never died as a result of (usually)
winning the fairy slipper fight.

I do not know at what stage the toxin develops, but I suspect that it
is associated with ripening. Those would have been very unripe.

Interestingly (perhaps) the mycotoxins in wheat are associated with
ripening, but the ripening kills the toxins, rather than the other way
around.

On Nov 15, 9:27 am, "Davy" wrote:
Now done a bit of online research.......

It seems that runner beans contain the same toxin as kidney beans but to a
much lesser extent. The toxin, in the levels found in kidney beans, causes
about 24 hours of vomiting and diarrhoea - but no lasting harm. Soaking the
beans in water for about 5 hours, discarding the water, boiling for at least
10 mins reduces the toxin to safe levels. The soaking also leaches out the
sugar that causes flatulence after eating beans. So if you don't take these
precautions then you may suffer both diarrhoea and flatulence - best not to
think about it.

The soaking is required to rehydrate the dried beans. It has
essentially no effect on the level of toxin.

Because in Britain kidney beans are only available as dried beans and
therefore have to be boiled to make them edible, there are few recorded
cases of red kidney bean poisoning - mostly due to people adding the beans
to slow casserole cookers which don't boil the beans.

I have some friends who sufferred kidney bean poisoning after they
prepared a salad with raw (but soaked) kidney beans.

In article , Davy
says...
Now done a bit of online research.......

It seems that runner beans contain the same toxin as kidney beans but to a
much lesser extent. The toxin, in the levels found in kidney beans, causes
about 24 hours of vomiting and diarrhoea - but no lasting harm. Soaking the
beans in water for about 5 hours, discarding the water, boiling for at least
10 mins reduces the toxin to safe levels. The soaking also leaches out the
sugar that causes flatulence after eating beans. So if you don't take these
precautions then you may suffer both diarrhoea and flatulence - best not to
think about it.

Because in Britain kidney beans are only available as dried beans and
therefore have to be boiled to make them edible, there are few recorded
cases of red kidney bean poisoning - mostly due to people adding the beans
to slow casserole cookers which don't boil the beans. I could find no
reported cases of poisoning from runner beans.

Such a shame since I thought the raw runner beans tasted superb.

Davy


"Davy" wrote in message
om...
Like many people I have left the last pods of my runner beans unpicked to
provide seed for next year. But the pods are still very green and lush
and
not drying at all. So I opened one to check the beans - they were
purple -
just like the beans I sowed in the spring.
Out of curiosity I tasted one - it was superb - even raw.
Now I have a question - why are not runner beans grown to produce edible
beans? I know that the very similar red kidney beans are poisonous until
soaked in water for many hours. Is there a problem with runner beans?
thanks, Davy






We cook and eat left over runner bean seeds at the end of the season,
but they aren't the tastiest of beans.
--
David in Normandy

Davy wrote:
Now done a bit of online research.......

It seems that runner beans contain the same toxin as kidney beans but
to a much lesser extent. The toxin, in the levels found in kidney
beans, causes about 24 hours of vomiting and diarrhoea - but no
lasting harm. Soaking the beans in water for about 5 hours,
discarding the water, boiling for at least 10 mins reduces the toxin
to safe levels. The soaking also leaches out the sugar that causes
flatulence after eating beans. So if you don't take these
precautions then you may suffer both diarrhoea and flatulence - best
not to think about it.

Because in Britain kidney beans are only available as dried beans and
therefore have to be boiled to make them edible, there are few
recorded cases of red kidney bean poisoning - mostly due to people
adding the beans to slow casserole cookers which don't boil the
beans. I could find no reported cases of poisoning from runner beans.


The first time I "cooked" kidney beans 30 years ago I just slow-cooked them,
as I didn't know any better. A night of vomiting resulted - nearly blamed
the butcher for bad mince! Since then I have always "rolling boiled" them
for at least 20 minutes without problem.

Such a shame since I thought the raw runner beans tasted superb.

Agreed - often as good as snow peas. I and other family members often ate
them raw without any ill effect. I must add that it was only ever a few
beans at most.

It is quite interesting that the pea family provides us with some of the
most delicious and nutritious seeds, and some of the most dangerous
(Ricinus, Abrus).


--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...
In reply to Nick Maclaren ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

In article ,
"Uncle Marvo" writes:

IMHO runner bean beans are not as tasty as broad beans. Though when
we were kids, we used to fight over the "fairy slippers" while mum
was splitting the runners. They are very tasty raw, as you say, and
to the best of my knowledge I never died as a result of (usually)
winning the fairy slipper fight.

I do not know at what stage the toxin develops, but I suspect that it
is associated with ripening. Those would have been very unripe.

According to most of what I read these days I died about 47 years ago. But
I didn't. Does that make me special, or does it make most of what I read
these days a bag of propaganda?

I should have died decades ago too.

Tough :-)

Mary

Davy wrote:

[snip]

Because in Britain kidney beans are only available as dried beans and
therefore have to be boiled to make them edible, there are few
recorded cases of red kidney bean poisoning - mostly due to people
adding the beans to slow casserole cookers which don't boil the
beans. I could find no reported cases of poisoning from runner beans.

Only available as dried beans? Whoever did the research you found seems to
have forgotten tins!

--
Linz
Wet Yorks

On Nov 15, 12:18 pm, "Amethyst Deceiver"
wrote:
Davy wrote:

[snip]

Because in Britain kidney beans are only available as dried beans and
therefore have to be boiled to make them edible, there are few
recorded cases of red kidney bean poisoning - mostly due to people
adding the beans to slow casserole cookers which don't boil the
beans. I could find no reported cases of poisoning from runner beans.

Only available as dried beans? Whoever did the research you found seems to
have forgotten tins!

Well spotted. Most people probably do indeed get them from tins. I
think the tinned ones are already cooked though but please do not sue
me if they are not and you accidentally poison all around you.

Des



--
Linz
Wet Yorks