I planted some "Bountiful" green beans, though I have no idea how I can get them ready to eat. The pods seem way too tough to cook and eat whole, but I was under the impression they were "green beans" when I bought the seeds. Is there a resource for those new gardeners venturing into life with this wonderful nitrogen-fixing legume?
Do they snap easily ? All you need to do is wash and remove strings if necessary ! They boil in a small amount of water with salt and butter or bake, stir fry or steam ! There are many recipes just google string/green bean recipes ! You can also pickle them ! main thing is pick them before they get tough ! 3 to 4 inches is usually best !
SeanLI, I've never grown Bountiful, so I can't really comment on them, But, when we lived in upstate NY I planted Tendercrop or Tendergreen. As you can tell from the names, the beans are tender! I still plant them here in Texas, and they are plentiful and tender. Any excess I blanch and freeze.
We just boil or sometimes steam the beans to eat them. We also blanch them for three minutes to freeze them in for eating later.
When you say "beans", do you mean you shuck the beans out of the pods? Or do you do all of this to the pods? Or am I just using the wrong terminology?
We boil the entire bean (in cut pieces) still in the pod. Of course we remove the little nib at the end of each bean where it was attached to the plant before boiling. We do not shuck the little seeds out of the pods first.
Same here,, just blanch about a minute or two and cool and freeze ! You will have Green beans all winter !