[Piccolo]

How do I cook Cherokee beans?  I know I have to cut them in chunks rather than sliced like runner beans but is it ok to steam them in my steamer? Do I have to remove any beans that are inside?  Any advice is gladly received.  (Are they freezable as well?  If so, how?)  To be honest until I signed up to this forum I hadn't even heard of them let alone know how to cook them   (Am ever so pleased to have them growing though )

[sunshineband]

Wow!! I have always wanted to grow these (I am assuming you don't mean the cherokee bean lily, whos beans are poisonous, but the climbing bean with pods a bit like french beans  )

You might need to straing the larger pods, but you just cook them like french beans. Do keep some seeds so you can grow them next year too 

Lucky you -- enjoy!!

[Piccolo]

Don't know about the lily but these are climbing plants with a pretty mauve pea-like flower
- forgive my ignorance sunshineband but not having much experience of french beans either I leave any beans I might find inside the pods in my cooking do I?  (Thanks for the earlier answer though )

[sunshineband]

If the beans have not made the pods swell much, then leave them in as this is how you would normally eat them.

if there are bean shaped bulges than the edges of the pods might be tough, so trim them lengthways to cut off the stringy bit, but if they are full sized beans then the pods are probably too tough to eat, so take out the beans to cook them and disacrd the pods

Hope that helps 

[agapanthus]

Do you mean cherokee trail of tears bean?

[Piccolo]

Thanks again sunshineband, much appreciated.
Agapanthus - yes, they're the ones.

[tode]

"cherokee trail of tears bean"

What a great name    

But what do they taste like ?

[agapanthus]

"cherokee trail of tears bean"

What a great name    

But what do they taste like ?

Very beany!!!........(legging it..................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tode]

Beany ?  . . . as in "beans" ? ?