French beans - edible?

Hi there,

I planted out my climbing french beans pretty early this year and after enjoying a good crop from them throughout the summer, the plants are coming to an end now. I still managed to pick a large number of good sized beans today, but have noticed that many of them have sort of rusty blotches on them.

I am assuming that this is because the plants are now getting old etc but wondered if the beans themselves are still edible despite these blemishes. Has anyone any idea?
Thanks.

If you mean the beans themselves and not the pods, yes they are edible, but carry out the normal cooking procedures, I found the skins were just too tough.     Cheers,    Tony.