beans and houses

[vgqn]

Following on to my triumph of finally backing up my computer, I took advantage of the balmy weather to harvest some of the beans I had left on the vines and clean up said vines. I now have a large bowl of dried beans and a large bowl of shelly beans (i.e., they're still on the green & moist side). I'm seeing a shelly bean corn chowder in our near future. I got through about 2/3 of the bean vines that were still out there, but as magscanner  and I were hauling a batch of vines to the curb for green waste pickup, a car pulled up and the people began excitedly telling us that our house looked exactly like theirs! We had heard there was a look-alike in their neighborhood, but hadn't come across it ourselves. Much fun and comparing of notes ensued (you can read more in magscanner 's post, but the light was failing by the time we finished, so I need to finish the bean harvest tomorrow.

Nonetheless, another postponed task has been started and should get completed tomorrow. I'm spraining my arm with all this back patting, you know.

Comments

[naomi-traveller.livejournal.com]

I've been cooking with dried beans a lot and wondered how they got to the dried/storage state. Is it usual to leave them on the vine for drying? Or can you also prepare your shelly beans for storage somehow?

Beans are so cool. :)

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

It is usual to leave the beans on the vine to dry, if possible, though it isn't always possible. It's true that I could simply leave the shelly beans out to dry, in or out of the pods. I've done that, and it's fun to watch them slowly shrink from day to day. Would probably make a good time lapse video.

But I do love the texture of shelly beans. They seem creamier to me than dried beans. I've sometimes blanched them and frozen them for future use (I think I have some green limas in the freezer, for instance), but in this case, I made them all into a very yummy chowder that we had for dinner tonight. (Plus leftovers, some of which are in the refrigerator and some of which are in the freezer already -- we are efficient sometimes!)

There are so many cool beans! These were a mix of runner beans, Tarbais, limas, and Maya Coba.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Having only a very limited amount of space, and rather enjoying Intensive Gardening, I generally don't grow anything that takes up quite a lot of space for what it produces and is just about as good, and reasonably-priced, at the neighborhood supermarket, even though it may be less labor-intensive than many crops. Dried beans strike me as falling into that category. (There may be good arguments for a few special Heirloom varieties that aren't commercially available, and if I had three or four times as much space....)

Speaking of (dried) beans: Recently (the past year or two) becoming available in markets here (around Covina, California) -- especially in areas with a high Latino/Mexican population -- is a variety called "Peruano" or "Maya coba" (with some variations in spellings, both on pre-packaged bags and the signs on bulk bins). They're about twice as expensive as the common pinto beans (smaller yield per acre, I suppose), but I think they're well worth it. Light tan/ecru in color, they have a rich & creamy mouth-feel, with a hint of sweetness, and (if not stirred too vigorously) retain their individual beans shape through the cooking process, yet the skin is just as melt-in-the-mouth tender as the interior, even when cooked in a slightly-salty stock. (Salt at the cooking stage tends to make the skins of most beans tough, I've just learned.)

The most recent batch, I soaked overnight, drained, put in the slow-cooker/CrockPot, covered with a stock -- made from a ham-bone & skin and some hamhocks (& an onion, of course) simmered overnight, strained and defatted -- and cooked the beans on High for four hours. So good I ate two dishes of it immediately, and it was great later in burritos, and (with the addition of a bit more of the stock & some diced ham) as Bean Soup. There wasn't enough left for refried beans/dip, but they're great for that as well. And even without discarding the cooking-water they seem to be less conducive to flatulence than most dried beans. (I tried growing a few plants last Summer -- they make a bush about 2 feet high. The young green pods are edible, but not nearly as tasty as French/Green/Bush/Snap beans, and each pod contains two (or maybe it's four) strings (very difficult to remove before cooking) that can be chewed-on for hours if one is so inclined.)

I don't know whether to be surprised or shocked by your mention of taking the old bean plants/vines out to the (green waste) dumpster. I think of them as being prime composting material, and tend to assume that all serious Gardeners need or want more of that than they can get. (Yeah, I know, it's brown, and this time of the year it's difficult to get enough green stuff to make the ideal 50/50 mix, but it still breaks down in time, and I don't think it's likely to be a serious vector for plant diseases.)

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

In addition to the garden space allocation is the processing time needed. It's fun to grow the beans, but I agree it really isn't worth growing them if I can buy equivalent quality. However, I am usually growing heirlooms that aren't readily available or are only available for exorbitant amounts of money (Tarbais beans, for instance), as you probably guessed.

I actually did try Maya cobas this year! I was told they were bush, but they vigorously climbed to 6' plus. Interesting that yours really were bush. I received them late (mmm, July, I think) but tried planting them anyhow. Got a few dried ones, but for the most part they never made it past the flat green stage, not even to shelly most of them. I kept a small bag of greenies to try as green beans, but it's true, they're rather stringy. Maybe they'll just become compost. And maybe I'll just buy them in the future.

I've actually had persistent problems with stinkbugs which is part of why I'm letting the city compost the vines, although the little buggers are more likely overwintering in the soil, so I'm not sure I'm doing any good. But some of those vines seem really resistant to decomposition, so I don't mind donating them to the city. I have more than enough raw material for compost.