[Christinem]

I have a glut of Borlotti beans that I want to store but am not sure of the correct way to preserve them. Is it just a case of removing from the pods and leaving for a couple of days. All advice gratefully received.

[stentman]

I shell my bean pods then place the beans on a piece of paper kitchen towel on a bright window sill. When I think they are dry enough I give them a couple more days. For next years planting I store the dried beans in an envolope which I then put in my seed tin. For cooking purposes I have dried beans stored in glass flip top sealed jars. Other may have far better methods but that works for me with my small quantities.

[Christinem]

  thank you

[compostqueen]

I've dried them like that and they were fine. You can freeze them too

To dry them you keep growing them until they start to turn brown and papery. You can pull off the beans and dying foliage off the plant supports and take them indoors to a dry shed.  If you hang them up to dry place something underneath to catch the beans as they fall. As the beans dry the pods open up and the seeds fall out.  Beware of mice getting into the shed at this stage as they love them!  You can do this in the house but it can get messy    When all the beans have falled out of the pods you can get rid of all the dead foliage and then put the beans on kitchen paper on a dry window ledge. Not the kitchen or bathroom!  Once they're fully dry put them into jars    Or you can use a drying machine