[DaveD64]

Hi

Sorry if I'm asking in the wrong place - I'm a newbie here!

I've grown some runner beans (scarlett I think - scarlett flowers, green pods)

I've been eating them all summer when they were just a pod with nothing (to speak of) inside, but now they've started to mature to contain full size beans (size of a kidney bean). The beans are red - but if you rub the red "skin" comes off and you're left with a green bean.

I heard that when the beans have developed like this you cannot eat the pods anymore.

So, the question - can you still eat the pod and can you eat the bean and does the bean need to be peeled (i.e. take off the red "skin")? OK, so there was 3 questions in the end

Thanks

Dave

[Aunt Sally]

The pods will have become too tough to eat Dave.

You can eat the beans when they are cooked but I don't think they are noted for their quality otherwise we'd all be eathing them by now  

You can dry them and use them for seed next yer though  

[DaveD64]

The pods will have become too tough to eat Dave.

Yes, I'd noticed that - and so really have stopped eating the pods.

You can eat the beans when they are cooked

Hmmm, I've tried a couple of the beans raw an hour or so ago (they were lovely!) without the red skin - I'm not dead yet  :? - wonder what the ingestion period is?! Guess I'll be cooking them from now on - if I live through the night  

Thanks

Dave

[Trillium]

I was told that the overripe beans are somewhat bland in taste, but that frozen for winter they're a good addition of protein and fibre to things like stews and such. That's what I'm doing with any of mind that get too large.
And yes, the pods of the overgrowns are definitely too tough to eat, even half filled out the pods are starting to get tough. Best picked young.

[gobs]

You try and see, will depend which one I like Enorma shelled.

A few raw beans won't hurt you, but a lot can.

[Aunt Sally]

A few raw beans won't hurt you, but a lot can.

Most beans contain toxins called lectins.  Some more than others.  They are destroyed by cooking.

[Yabba]

A few raw beans won't hurt you, but a lot can.

Most beans contain toxins called lectins.

 :shock: .... what do you class as "a lot" ?

¥

[Aunt Sally]

You eat some and tell us when you feel ill Yabba  

[Yabba]

You eat some and tell us when you feel ill Yabba  

 :shock:

¥

[gobs]

     

I don't know for grams, but judging from people getting hospitalised after eating raw or under-cooked beans - which is even worse - you don't need too much.

[daveelsy]

I understand that on the continent they leave runner beans to grow fat (when the pods are too stringy to eat) and they then harvest them for the beans inside. Scarlet emperor beans are purple with dark spots and taste delicious when cooked the same as broad or butter beans.
We save all of our 'old' beans every year, strip the pods off (for the compost heap) and eat the beans during the winter. I keep them in an uncovered plastic bucket in the shed.
They tend to dry out but this just means that  you need to cook them a little more as the time goes on.

Waste not Want not!

[DD.]

Welcome to the forums.

This thread was last posted on over 2 years ago and a lot of the contributors no longer come out to play with us so won't get to read your comments. Far better to post on current "live" threads.

Why not drop into the "Welcome" forum and introduce yourself?

[suziet88]

Now I have stripped the runner bean plants I dry the large beans, freeze them and add them to chilli con carne etc.  We are still alive to tell the tale!